Not Enough
by Animegod 197
Summary: Hilary leaves the Bladebreakers because she thinks there's no way that Tyson would love her as she does him and she can't stand not being able to let out her feelings. When the team finds out, a distraught Tyson desperately tries to get to her.
1. Introduction

Introduction

Hi! Animegod 197 here! I meant to write this is the first chapter, but for some reason it wouldn't save the changes, so I made a separate page. I'll rectify that in the future.

I'm obviously a new author here and this is my first story, so please be gentle in your reviews. I welcome constructive criticism, but no flames. As you can see, the title has changed. I thought about the initial concept I had when starting this fic, and I decided that "Not Enough" would fit better. Tell me what you think.

Note: Tyson and Kai may be a little OOC. Also, if you hate the Ty/Hil pairing, do not read this story! I don't want hate messages in the reviews! If you like Hilary/Kai, or Kai/Tyson, that's fine, but do not come on just to bash this pairing.

Disclaimer: I do not, in part or in whole, own the anime/manga Beyblade. If I did, Tyson & Hilary would've gotten together in G-Revolution.


	2. A Rash Decision

Chapter 1: A Rash Decision

My name is Hilary Tatibana. I'm a trainer of the world-champion team the Bladebreakers as well as their cheerleader.

I was at a very familiar dojo watching a very familiar scene. I was sitting with Kenny watching the others train. Right now, it was Tyson against Max. My mind wasn't really on the battle but rather the one participating. I was staring at Tyson.

I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. At first, I didn't know what to make of it, but as time went on and other strange things happened (like not being able to talk whenever Tyson smiled at me, or having to catch my breath whenever he touched me), I gradually realized something that I didn't think was possible.

I was in love with him.

Chuckling, I thought how strange it was to admit it to myself. I didn't know why I loved him, but the fact remained. I guess I saw things in him that few others did. Tyson may've been a dense, lazy, incredibly childish pig with a bottomless pit for a stomach, but he was also fiercely loyal, determined to a fault, and had a compassion that seemed to go unrivaled, at least to those he valued as friends.

I sighed at that last thought. Sometimes I wondered if he considered me a friend. Sure, we hung out together and I saw him at school practically every day, but half the time we were in contact, Tyson and I argued. It was usually over something trivial, but it would get heated and end in one of two ways.

1. Either I would yell at the top of my lungs and threaten something that would make even Kai tremble, and he would back down or (and this was the more common scenario)

2. Tyson would end up saying something that would shatter my heart into innumerable pieces and send me off crying. He would then apologize for his loose mouth and I would accept it, almost out of habit. It was getting pretty old.

This was driving me crazy. Every day, I loved Tyson more and every day, it grew harder to be around him because I knew I could never speak the feelings I hid inside my heart, for fear of how he would react. I was sure he didn't feel the same. His feelings for me were at best friendship and at worst hatred. I was fairly certain it wasn't the latter, because if he hated me, why did he allow me to hang around him?

I've contented myself with being his friend, at least for the moment. Maybe one day, I'll have the courage to tell him how much I love him.

The battle has just concluded and Tyson's walking towards me, a goofy grin on his face because he won. He sits down next to me and looks at me almost expectantly. I stared at him confused.

"Hey Hil," he said. I loved that nickname. Tyson was the only one who used it and the only one I would ever allow to use it.

He continued. "You haven't said anything since training started. You okay?"

He looked so innocent when he asked the question. Half of me was angry with him for being so dense, and the other half was grateful that he was showing concern.

"I'm alright, just got a lot on my mind," I answered giving a small smile.

"Are you sure? Because if you have anything you wanna talk about, I'm here," he said.

I wanted to cry so bad right then. I wanted to just throw my arms around him and tell him that I loved him more than he could ever know.

"Thank you," was all I could get out.

That was it. I couldn't take it anymore. If I stayed around, I really would go insane. I stood up and smiled at Tyson for what was probably the last time. I knew there was only one way to end this torture.

I would leave. Go as far away from Tyson and the Bladebreakers as I could.

It seems strange I know, even cruel. Why leave the people that you think of as a second family? But love is complicated. My heart couldn't take it. I harbored this extreme emotion and yet it was impossible to let it out. It was killing me on the inside.

"I should go. Training is done for today, so there's no reason for me to stay here," I said.

Tyson looked at me bewildered and stood up. "What do you mean? It's not even dark yet. And of course you have a reason to stay here. We're your friends." He smiled at me.

"I know that," I said, trying to keep tears from building. It was no use though.

"Then stay a little while, please?" he said playfully.

I couldn't help but giggle at his childish actions. I felt the tears behind my eyes, but didn't let them fall. Apparently, Tyson noticed because his expression turned from playful to worry.

"You're not crying are you? Did I do anything to upset you?"

"No Tyson. My eyes are just watery, that's all," I said trying to keep my voice steady.

I had to get away soon, or else I would burst. "I'd like to get home early today, if that's okay."

A lame excuse, but knowing Tyson, he would buy it. I was right. He was still sad that I wouldn't stay with him, which made me so happy because it meant that he might actually like having me around. Still, I knew that he didn't have the same feelings for me that I had for him. I had to leave.

Before I knew what was happening, I pulled Tyson into a bear hug and whispered my last goodbye to him.

"Hey, don't make it sound like you're not coming back. I'll see you tomorrow right?" he asked seriously expecting me to say yes.

I could only nod hating myself for lying to him. Please forgive me for this Tyson. I walked out of the dojo gates and once Tyson was out of sight, I broke into a run towards my house. It would be better this way. The others could go on just fine without me. After all, they'd done it once before. Still, I hated the thought of leaving Tyson, even though it was driving me crazy to be around him. I HATE THIS! Why is this so confusing?

Once I got to my house, I ran right up to my room and cried into my pillow. My mom asked what was wrong, but I just told her to go away, which made me feel worse. When I finally calmed down, the sun had already set. I had decided that I would move to America, specifically New York. I was good friends with Max's parents and knew that they would let me stay for as long as I needed to. I wouldn't be staying there for good of course, just until I could sort all this out and return to Japan. I had at least 500,000 yen saved up from allowances and holiday money. I never spend all my money, it's a waste. It would be enough to get me a plane ticket to New York as well as pay for food for a couple weeks.

There was only one problem. I had no idea how to tell my mom without giving too much away as to where I was going. I didn't want the Bladebreakers to find out, especially Tyson because they would come looking for me. I thought about it and finally I took out a notepad and hastily wrote out a short letter. I left it on my other pillow where I was sure she would find it. I set my alarm for three in the morning because mom usually wakes up at five.

Getting my pajamas on, I thought about how they would react when they realized I was gone. I honestly didn't know why I cared. Wasn't the point to make sure they didn't look for me? There goes that confusion again. Hopefully, that would be gone soon. Climbing into the covers, I drifted off to sleep and spent the night dreaming of Tyson.

The loud sound of my alarm clock woke me from my slumber. It took a minute to adjust to my surroundings. I looked at the clock and it read 3:00 a.m. I suddenly remembered my decision and got my regular clothes on as well as a heavy coat because it was biting cold outside. I pulled a small suitcase from under my bed (there was no way I would let my mom keep it) and stuffed some extra clothes into it. With my money in my pocket, I went as quietly as possible through the house and out the front door. I couldn't drive unfortunately, so I put my feet into high gear and ran as fast as I could to the airport.

"When's the next flight to New York?" I asked the attendant completely out of breath.

"Slow down. Are you alright?" she asked me.

"Fine. Now when's the flight to New York?"

"Let's see. It says 4:00 a.m."

"That's two minutes from now! Where's the plane?" I asked frantically.

She showed me and I used the last of my energy to sprint for the plane, barely making it. I was seated in second class, but I was far too tired to care. I slept almost the whole way through, only waking during meals. My sleep was not peaceful at all though. I was plagued by nightmares of separation with Tyson. I hated myself even more now. Please God, help me to get through this and forgive me for my actions.


	3. She's Gone

Chapter 2: She's Gone

Tyson's P.O.V

I woke up to water splashing over my head and glared at the offender. It wasn't who I expected. I thought I'd see a girl with beautiful ruby eyes and chocolate brown hair giving me an angry stare. Instead, I saw Kai giving me the same glare. I don't know why I said it, but it just came out.

"Hey, where's Hilary?" I asked.

Kai only intensified his glare. "You're supposed to be getting ready for training! Now get your ass out of bed!" he yelled.

I was slightly miffed that he didn't answer my question. "I'll get ready in a minute. Where's Hilary?" I asked a little more serious.

"I don't know. She hasn't come in yet," he told me.

"That's weird. She's usually here by now."

"It's nearly nine Tyson. Get dressed and start training!" he said.

"Alright, alright!" I said exasperated. Kai could be such a hardass.

I got on my regular clothes. Black pants, a yellow shirt and over that a red jacket. I got Dragoon and went outside. I was up against Ray first. I got on the offensive quickly knowing Ray would try to maneuver around my blade. Normally it would've been easy to best him, but something was distracting me. I noticed Hilary still hadn't shown up. When I looked back at the bey-dish, Dragoon was cornered by Driger.

"Come on Dragoon! I know you can pull this out!" Dragoon began to push Driger back. They were locked in the middle of the dish, and eventually they ricocheted out, the battle ending in a tie.

"Well, at least I didn't lose," I muttered to myself.

"Tyson, what happened? You zoned out for a little while there," Ray said.

I could tell he was worried. I didn't answer for a moment. I guess it was because I was wondering about Hilary. After all, she'd told me she'd be here today.

"Ray, can I talk to you?" I felt unsure about talking to him, even though he was one of my best friends.

"Sure pal," he said smiling at me.

We went and sat on the porch of the dojo. I sighed trying to figure out how to say what was on my mind. Finally, I just blurted out, "I'm worried about Hilary."

Ray seemed a little shocked by the sudden outburst. "Why? Did something happen to her?"

I certainly hoped not or else I'd start to panic. "No. It's just that she's really late and she told me she'd be at practice yesterday."

"That is weird." Ray turned away from me and looked deep in thought. "Maybe she slept in."

I looked at him as if he was crazy. The thought of Hilary sleeping in was almost impossible to believe in my mind.

Ray smiled at me sheepishly. "Okay maybe not. Don't worry though, I'm sure Hilary's fine. She may've just decided to stay in from training today. Maybe she was really tired."

"I guess maybe. But then why wouldn't she phone and tell us?" I asked.

"…Don't know," he said sounding unsure for the first time.

Oh God where could she be? I gripped my shirt trying to steady my racing heart. The worst possible scenarios started playing in my head and I was sure I was going to have a heart attack.

Ray looked at me frantic and started shaking me telling me to snap out of it. Everyone else came to see what was going on but I didn't even notice.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know,"

I recognized the voices as Daichi and Kenny. I shook my head and then bolted through the others.

"Tyson, where are you going?" I heard Max shout after me.

I didn't even bother answering. I had to find Hilary fast. I was headed towards her house. Maybe her mom would know something.

Normal P.O.V

Everyone was looking at Ray questioningly.

"What the heck is going on?" Daichi screamed.

"Tyson said he was worried about Hilary. Something I said touched him off and he started having a panic attack."

"You don't really think something bad happened to her, do you?" Max asked.

"No I doubt it."

"Apparently Tyson doesn't," Kai said. He actually looked a little sad.

Kai and Ray had known for a while that Tyson had a huge crush on Hilary, despite the fact that they argued. He was probably sick with worry.

"I hope that he's gonna be okay," Max said quietly.

Tyson's P.O.V

I banged on the door to the Tatibana residence. I probably should've been a little more polite, but I couldn't help it. If anything happened to Hilary, I don't know what I'd do. It took a few moments before Mrs. Tatibana answered the door. What I saw, I didn't like. Her eyes were red and puffy as if she'd been crying. Something was wrong, I knew it.

"Mrs. Tatibana, do you know where Hilary is?" I asked anxiously, afraid of the answer.

As soon as I said Hilary's name, she started sobbing. She wiped her eyes and motioned for me to come inside. We sat down on the couch and she took a deep breath.

"Tyson, I'm afraid I have no idea where Hilary is," she told me.

My blood ran cold. Hilary was…gone? I shook my head at her refusing to believe it. She only nodded.

"I'm sorry Tyson. I don't know when she left, or anything. All she left behind was this note."

She pulled out a white piece of paper and handed it to me.

_Dear Mom._

_I'm going away for a while. My actions have nothing to do with you, so don't think I'm running away from home. I'm not going to kill myself either. I can't say where I'll be as I don't want anyone to come looking for me. All I can tell you is that I need time away to figure out some things. I will be back, I just don't know when. My friends will probably ask about me, so tell them what I've told you. Also, write a note for my absence at school. I'm sorry for any pain I may've caused anyone._

_Love, your daughter Hilary_

I must've read that paper ten times because my brain couldn't seem to comprehend the words. Hilary had left without telling anyone and I didn't know where she was or when she was coming back.

"Why would she do something like this?" I asked more to myself than to Mrs. Tatibana.

"I wish I knew the answer," she said.

"Have you called the police?" I asked.

"I doubt it would do much good. When I looked in Hilary's room, I saw that she had taken all her savings with her. She had at least 500,000 yen. With that kind of money, I figured that she probably left the country."

No…. That word just rang in my head over and over. Mrs. Tatibana apparently noticed my vacant look because she hugged me. I was surprised, but hugged her back. This was just as painful for her as it was for me, probably more so. She was sobbing again and to my surprise, I felt something wet slide down my face.

I realized it was a tear. More came. I was crying. I didn't know whether it was because I felt sorry for Mrs. Tatibana or if it was over losing Hilary. I shook my head. She was never mine to begin with so I couldn't lose her. I couldn't be so selfish. Besides, I had to be strong for Mrs. Tatibana. I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked up at Hilary's mom.

"I'll find her for you," I said sounding more confident than I felt.

"Do you really think you can?" she asked.

I knew the answer was not likely, but I nodded anyway. Maybe I was trying to convince myself of it too.

"Please, do all you can to find my daughter," she said.

"I will." I smiled at her, trying to reassure both of us.

I walked out not really feeling any better, but with a new goal in mind. Find the girl I love, no matter what. I chuckled, out of bitterness more than anything else. Hilary could never fall for someone like me anyway, so why even worry about it? I already knew the answer. I would do anything for her.

I walked down the street back towards my house to tell the others what I'd found out. I had to be strong if I was gonna pull this off and that's what I told myself I would do. But then, why did I still feel like crying?


	4. Finding Hilary

Chapter 3: Finding Hilary

Normal P.O.V

Tyson walked into the dojo and everyone turned to him with expectant eyes.

"What happened?" Max asked.

"Did you find out anything about Hilary? Where is she?" Ray said.

Tyson looked at his team with a solemn expression. "Hilary's gone," he said simply.

Everyone was visibly shocked by this news.

"GONE? What do you mean she's gone?" Kenny yelled.

"She left. I don't know where she is, and neither does her mom."

"Did she leave any clues behind?" Kai asked.

"No. All she left was a note. It doesn't say anything about where she could be."

"Well, aren't you gonna go look for her? You're actin' like you don't even care!" Daichi yelled.

"Shut up Daichi!" Ray said glaring at him.

"Hey don't yell at me! Tyson's the one who was all worried about her, and now it's like she doesn't exist!"

The others knew better. They could see that Tyson was only trying to appear composed.

Ray looked at Tyson again and could see tears behind his eyes. _Poor Tyson. This is tearing him apart._

"Guys, I think Tyson needs some time to himself," Ray said.

Everyone else nodded and went inside the dojo.

"What can we do?" Max asked looking depressed himself.

"Nothing now except try to comfort him," Kai said.

"Tyson loves Hilary, we all know it," Ray said.

"I don't know about love, but he definitely has a crush on her," Kenny said.

"Then this must be heartbreaking for him," Max said.

Daichi scoffed. "Well, I for one am glad she's gone! She was nothing but an overbearing bitch anyway!"

"Daichi shut your mouth now!" Kai said giving him a death glare.

Ray looked outside and was distraught by what he saw. Tyson was on his hands and knees sobbing his eyes out. He turned to the others.

"We have to do something. Tyson is going crazy over Hilary's disappearance."

"We could try to find Hilary ourselves," Max said.

"But we don't even know where to look," Kenny pointed out.

"Why would you want to find her? All she did was treat us like slaves," Daichi said.

"Hilary is a good friend Daichi and Tyson is severely depressed now that's she's gone. Don't you feel sorry for him?" Max asked.

"Yeah, but I don't understand why he likes her. I don't understand why any of you like her."

"That's because you're an annoying brat!" Kai said.

"Guys, Tyson's coming!" Ray said.

He opened the door and sat down. "Hey guys," he said smiling.

"Are you okay buddy?" Max asked.

"I'm better now."

"Tyson, if you wanna search for Hilary, we'll do all we can to help," Ray said.

"Thanks Ray. I'm not just gonna search for her though, I intend to find her."

"Tyson, not to crush your determination, but you don't even know where to start looking," Kenny said.

"We'll figure something out."

"Well, let's go over what we know so far," Kai said.

"I still have the letter she left. Her mom told me that she saved up 500,000 yen for travel."

"With that kind of money, I don't think travel would be her only priority," Kenny said.

"Mrs. Tatibana said Hilary probably left the country."

"Why would she do that?" Ray asked puzzled.

Tyson's eyes saddened again. "Because in the letter, she said that she didn't want to be found…"

"Well then, we'll just have to ignore her wishes and look high and low for her!" Daichi said enthusiastically.

The others looked skeptically at him.

"Why the sudden interest in finding her?" Max asked.

"Because I like ticking her off," he said grinning.

"That's the only reason?" Tyson asked.

He sighed. "No. The truth is I hate to see you depressed. It's pathetic. Besides, if your sulking over Hilary, then you won't be at your best when you beyblade. I don't wanna fight you when you're busy worrying over some girl," he said.

"Could you at least pretend to be concerned about her well-being?" Tyson asked annoyed.

Daichi feigned thoughtfulness. "Let me think...NO!" He burst out laughing.

Everyone glared at him, but Tyson looked ready to slaughter the young blader. The more Daichi laughed, the angrier Tyson got. Eventually, he snapped. Tyson leaped over to Daichi and began to choke him.

"Tyson calm down!" Max said.

"Stop! You're gonna kill him!" Ray said.

Ray, Max and Kai pulled Tyson away from Daichi just as the boy was starting to slip into unconsciousness. Tyson was snarling at Daichi with a murderous look in his eyes. Daichi was breathing hard once the air returned to his lungs. He glared at Tyson.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Daichi screamed.

"Daichi, you really should learn when to keep your mouth shut!" Kai said.

"You know how worried Tyson is so either be supportive or don't say anything!" Ray said.

"Why is everybody ganging up on me? This lunatic nearly strangled me to death!"

"Only because you provoked him," Kenny said.

"Tyson I know you're angry right now, but our priority is finding Hilary so try to calm down," Max said.

Tyson was breathing deeply trying to do just that. Eventually, his muscles relaxed and his look was calmer.

Kai let go of Tyson and went up to Daichi. "Listen, for your own safety I suggest you slam shut until we find Hilary. I warn you, if Tyson attacks you again I won't try to stop him because it would've been your own fault."

"All right, sheesh."

"Okay, back to the matter at hand. If Hilary did indeed leave the country, she would've taken a plane. Maybe if we can find flight records at the airport, we'll find out where she went," Kenny said.

"Great plan Kenny! Let's get going!" Tyson said.

"Tyson, how are we going to get there?"

"We can take the bus," he said.

"Alright we have a plan so let's go," Ray said.

The bus ride was rather uneventful, but about 15 minutes later the Bladebreakers arrived at the airport. Tyson was ahead of everybody and by the time the others caught up with him, he was already asking questions.

"Do you know this boy?" the flight attendant asked.

"Yes he's our friend," Max said.

"He was asking me whether a girl named Hilary Tatibana booked a flight today. I told him we can't reveal our records to him because he doesn't work here," she said. "Besides, we wouldn't know exactly who was on a particular plane anyway. We just keep records of the planes themselves and their activities."

Tyson's shoulders slumped at the information. He turned around and drudged out of the building.

"Cheer up Tyson. Just because this didn't pan out doesn't mean we won't be able to find her," Max said.

Tyson smiled at his friend, his optimism renewed. "You're right. Thanks Max," he said.


	5. Hilary's New Home

Chapter 4: Hilary's New Home

The plane had just landed and I was still sleepy. I knew where Judy's complex was, but I had no idea how to get there from the airport. At that moment, I almost wished Max was with me because he would know the way. Of course, thinking about Max got me thinking about the rest of the Bladebreakers and thinking of them made me think about Tyson.

I sighed. I needed to get Tyson off my mind at least temporarily. I ran out of the building and to the street. Since her complex was top secret, my only other option was to track down Max's dad. I walked which was like suicide in New York City, but somehow I made it.

"Hi. You're one of Max's friends aren't you?" he said.

"Yes sir, I'm Hilary," I said smiling shyly.

"Where are Max and the others? Aren't they usually with you?"

My face fell. Explaining this wasn't going to be easy. "Well, I came over here by myself."

"By yourself? Why would you do that?"

"It's hard to say. I'd rather not talk about it right now." I didn't look at him.

Max's dad looked at me quizzically. "Okay then."

"Um, I feel terrible for asking this, but could you take me to a currency exchange? I only have yen."

"I suppose so. There is a condition though," he told me sounding serious.

"What's that?" I asked nervously.

"After we get back, you explain what's going on, got it?"

I was afraid he'd say that. I had no choice but to agree. We got into the car and went to the bank. I'd spent about 180,000 yen on that flight, but that was okay. In American currency, I still had roughly $2900.

"That's quite a bit of money. What do you intend to use it for?" Max's dad asked me.

"Pay for food and any possible rent," I told him.

"Hold on. What do you mean rent?"

"Yeah about that, I was wondering if you had anywhere close by that I could stay while I'm here. Feel free to decline. I don't want to be a burden on you," I said rather fast.

We pulled up to the shop/house. "Alright, you're gonna tell me everything that's going on before we go inside."

I sighed. I knew I couldn't come up with a lie convincing enough that it would sound plausible, let alone like the truth. I told everything about my departure and why I left. When I was done, Max's dad looked at me as if I was a crazy person.

"So let me get this straight. You left because you're in love with Tyson, but you don't think he feels the same and you were going insane because you couldn't express your feelings."

"It sounds stupid, selfish, unreasonable, and probably a little petty, I know," I told him close to tears at the memory. "I couldn't deal with the possibility that Tyson would reject me, but at the same time, just being friends with him was torture in and of itself because I wanted more. Whenever he gave a sign that he liked me as more than a friend, I got my hopes up and they were subsequently dashed whenever we got into a fight. I got so confused that I figured it would be better to just get away from him rather than put myself through seven kinds of hell."

Max's dad sighed and looked at me with pity. "I can't say that I understand what you're going through, but I do know that you did what you thought was best. But to do all this without contacting anyone, do you know how worried they must be about you?"

"I know they're worried, but I can't afford to let them know my whereabouts until I know how to deal with all this. Otherwise, I may end up doing something even more drastic."

"Well, we definitely don't want that," he said. "Come inside. You can stay inside Max's room for the time being. I'm going to call Judy and tell her that you're here."

We went inside and Max's dad led me to his son's room. It was nothing special except for many beyblade parts on a bookshelf. I wasn't the least bit surprised. Max's dad came and told me Judy would be here in about ten minutes and then we would all talk about my decision.

All I could do was think about Tyson. He probably knew that I was gone by now. I'd like to think that he was concerned for my safety, but he's probably relieved that I'm not there to constantly harp on him and get into petty fights. Heck, his performance has probably improved without me on his back. Okay I need to stop this train of thought because I'm starting to make myself feel worse.

I'm sure they're all worried. I am their friend after all. Still, I'd rather they not come looking for me right now. I didn't even want to think about how my mom was reacting. She's the only one I told about what I was doing. Speaking of mothers, Judy was probably going to berate me for what I was doing because if Max ever pulled a stunt like this, she would have the entire Beyblade community out looking for him.

There's that crushing guilt once again. Maybe I should at least call mom and tell where I am. I shook my head. I couldn't start having doubts now. It was too late. I heard a car pull up and I knew it was Judy. Footsteps came up the stairs and the door opened revealing Max's mother. She was beautiful as ever and wore a blue business suit.

She had a smile on her face as she came and sat down beside me. Max's dad stayed by the door.

"Alright Hilary, I don't know you that well so why don't you tell me what's going on?" she said.

"Well, I left at 3:00 this morning and came here by plane. I didn't tell anybody other than my mom what I was doing and even then I didn't tell where I was going because I didn't want anybody to come looking for me though I'm sure my friends will anyway. I just got back from the exchange so my money could be converted into U.S currency. Before you say anything, yes I know everybody's worried but the whole reason I left was because of one of my friends and-"

"Hold it Hilary, breathe!" Judy said.

I realized that I had been going a mile a minute in my speech and was completely out of breath once I stopped talking. I took a deep breath to steady myself.

"I'm sorry. I guess I wanted to get in my side before you said anything."

"Hilary, I never asked you to tell me the whole story right away. Now why don't you want anyone looking for you? Have you run away from home?"

"No."

"Well then why did you come thousands of miles to New York by yourself? You said one of your friends caused you to do this? Did you have an argument with someone?"

I turned away from her. "No. Just the opposite really."

"She left because of Tyson," Max's dad said. He related my tale to Judy for me.

Once he was through, Judy sighed and I expected her to start scolding me. Instead, I looked over at her and she was smiling. My mouth was slightly open in stupefaction. "You're not mad?" I asked.

"No. Hilary I understand completely. Love makes people do crazy things. I've been through the same thing you're going through now."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"Of course. I was a teenager at one time too you know. When I was 17, I ran away from my home and took a train halfway across the United States without my parents' knowledge though for slightly different reasons. My parents had forbid me to see my then boyfriend and I had made up my mind that I was going to get to him no matter what. When they found out, they were madder than you could imagine, but I made them understand that I loved this man and that I wanted to be with him. We were married three years later."

I stared at Judy in awe. The fact that she was willing to go so far to be with the one she loved really made me admire her. It also made me feel even lower about myself because I had taken a reckless step to be _away _from the one I loved.

"I understand why you did what you did. You're afraid of rejection. But isn't this is causing you pain too? To be away from Tyson even if it's out of fear?" she asked.

"Definitely."

"You don't think Tyson feels the way you do, but I'm sure he's worried sick about you."

"How would you know?" I asked.

"Because he's your friend and he cares about your well-being."

"I don't know. If I go back, I could just be walking into the same thing all over again."

"So you came here because being around Tyson was confusing you. You want to be sure that you handle letting out your feelings, whatever the outcome."

"Exactly. I can't be sure when I'm around him because he gives me mixed signals and it drives me crazy."

"What if he does love you? Then your leaving is killing him inside."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Even so, you have to think about the other Bladebreakers. They're worried for you too. And what about your mother? You didn't tell where you were so she's probably having an emotional meltdown right now. Don't you think you at least owe her an explanation?"

I sighed. "Yes. But I don't want anyone to find me yet. I couldn't face them. They'd hate me if they knew why I did this. Especially Tyson."

"Now Hilary you know that's not true. If you think facing them will be too emotionally taxing for you, I won't contact them, yet. But you need to come to a decision. The more you drag this out, the more painful it'll be for everyone involved."

Judy and her husband left the room leaving me with a lot to think about. Judy was right, but I had to be sure that I could handle confessing to Tyson, because I couldn't be sure of his feelings for me. But then, if they are looking for me, they would eventually find where I was and I didn't know how I would react. And what if Tyson does love me? Then I would've put everyone through hell for nothing. Oh, what am I going to do?


	6. Breakthrough

Chapter 5: Breakthrough

We got back at about 10:45. My grandpa met us at the entrance.

"Hey there little dudes. What's goin' down?" he asked.

We all laughed uneasily at the comment. Grandpa always tried too hard to fit in.

"Well, we just got back from the airport," I said.

"Why were ya'll down there?"

"Trying to track down that wench-ow!"

I heard Daichi call Hilary a wench and I was about to get angry, but I saw Kai hit him so I let it slide.

"I mean that girl Hilary," he said correcting himself. I smiled inwardly.

"The dudette's gone missing?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so," Kenny said.

"Now why would she do that?"

"We don't know why, that's why we're trying to find her," Ray said.

We went inside and sat around the floor. I was trying not to think about the fact that Hilary wasn't there, but every time someone mentioned her, I had to fight the urge to cry.

"Okay, the flight records were a dead end," Kenny said.

"Let's try this from another angle," Ray said. "Where would she go?"

"She wouldn't take such a drastic step unless she already had somewhere to go," Kai said

"Yeah this is Hilary we're talking about. She's a smart girl so she would have had a plan of action ready before-hand," I said.

"But that still leaves the original question, where would she go?" Ray said.

"Well, the rest of Asia and Europe is out because she doesn't know anyone," Max said.

"What about Australia?" Daichi asked.

Everyone including me looked at Daichi (okay, I glared at him) and then Ray said, "Why would Hilary be in Australia? None of us have been there before. Think Daichi."

Daichi threw his hands up in exasperation. "Oh come on! I'm just trying to be productive!" he shouted.

"Back to the original goal," Kenny said getting everyone's attention. "She can't be in Antarctica, and it's very unlikely she'd be in South America either."

"Not so fast Chief," Ray said. "Hilary had 500,000 yen on her so she could've gone practically anywhere in the world. She could be in the Caribbean for all we know."

"Ray has a point," Kai added. "We need to figure out what places would be accessible with the kind of money she was carrying."

"Before we do that, can we rule out destinations first?" Kenny asked.

"Well, after eliminating eighty percent of the entire land mass on the planet, I would think the only other option would be in the United States," Kai said.

"But who does Hilary know in the U.S?" I asked.

Max spoke up suddenly. "What about my mom?" he asked.

As soon as I heard that, I felt a surge of hope as well as a rush of adrenaline. Hilary went to New York with us two years ago so she would've known Max's parents and I was sure they would've let her stay with them.

"What do you guys think? Is it plausible?" Kenny asked.

"Right now it's the only option we've got," Kai answered.

I was so excited that I just jumped up and said, "Let's go!"

Everyone looked me confused and then with half-hearted smiles. Realizing I'd just embarrassed myself, I slowly sat back down.

"Tyson, we're glad you're pumped to find Hilary. We are too," Max said.

I heard Daichi mutter "I'm not," and I gave him a death glare. If I heard one more word of negativity directed towards Hilary come out of that monkey boy's mouth, I really would kill him.

Max continued. "But we would need a lot of money to go to New York and I don't think any of us have it right now."

"We don't have to have it. Kai's rich," I said chuckling. I shut up almost immediately after seeing the demonic look Kai was giving me. That plan was out of the question.

"Well, even if Kai won't pay the expenses, maybe Mr. Dickenson will," Ray said.

I smiled at Ray. "Hey you're right. Mr. Dickenson's always come through for us!"

"Correction, he comes through when it has something to do with Beyblading. Finding Hilary doesn't fit into that category," Kai said.

I gave Kai a half-hearted glare. "This is important to me Kai, and Mr. Dickenson has done a lot for the team so I'm sure he'd do this as a favor to me."

"He's also very busy with his work. Suppose he can't give us the money we need?"

I opened my mouth to argue, but then I thought about it and kept quiet. Kai might actually have a point. What if we couldn't get the money from Mr. Dickenson? None of us had the funds to go to New York (except for Kai and he was too stingy to help). I was so close to finding Hilary and something as trivial as money was keeping me from her.

I felt the overwhelming urge to start sobbing again, but there was no way I was going to breakdown in front of my teammates (especially Daichi and Kai) so I took a breath to steady my nerves. I'm not giving up! I'm gonna find her no matter what!


	7. Finding Courage

Chapter 6: Finding Courage

I had been living in Mr. Tate's shop for two weeks now and I'd been pulling my own weight; buying groceries, helping with anything that they needed around the house, being helpful in whatever way I could. Every afternoon, I would talk to Judy trying to muster up the courage to actually go back and tell Tyson I loved him.

This was one of those talks. I was in Max's room with Judy and my main concern was whether I could stand Tyson's possible rejection of my feelings. Once that problem was solved, I had promised Judy that I would return to Japan as soon as possible.

"Hilary, not to make this decision any harder, but there are a couple of key questions you have to ask yourself and in order to receive answers to those questions, you have to look deep inside yourself," Judy said.

I kind of knew that already, but the type of questions she was talking about were probably the very ones I wanted to avoid (which is why coming to a decision was so hard). I knew I would have to confront them eventually though, so I figured I might as well get it over with now.

"What questions should I be asking?" I was a little apprehensive at finding out the answer.

"First, what's the reaction you think you would have if Tyson rejected you?" she asked.

I didn't really know. In my mind, there were all kinds of possibilities ranging from a total numb to complete emotional breakdown. I'd hoped it would be somewhere between those two extremes. Then a very disturbing thought occurred to me. It didn't seem fathomable, but now that I had entertained the possibility, I had to acknowledge the very slim but still present prospect of actually taking my own life as an adverse reaction to Tyson's rejection. Looking back at Judy, I reluctantly opened my mouth to answer a question I now wished she never asked.

"Well I just thought about it, but the most extreme reaction I could have would be to-"

I couldn't bring myself to complete the sentence because I was afraid that if I did, I would be whisked off to some mental health facility and have to go through therapy until the thought of suicide was erased from my brain.

"Hilary, are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" Judy asked.

Despite the redundancy of the question, I answered in a calm manner. "I was going to say that the worst reaction I could realistically have would be to commit suicide."

She sighed. "I was afraid of this. Hilary-"

"Judy, before you say anything else, know that the possibility of me killing myself over anything is slim to none. In fact, I told my mom before I left that I had no intention of taking my own life."

She managed a weak smile. I didn't know whether she was relieved or not.

"Well, that's good to know. Hilary, no matter how much you may love someone, taking your own life for their sake is a foolish thing to do. You wouldn't end up with them anyway. Now on to the next question. Do you think you would be able to move on and find someone else if he we're to reject you?"

Well, the answer to that question was two-fold. Yes, eventually I would get over it and move on with my life. Would I ever be able to find someone else to replace Tyson? Not in this lifetime. I loved him too much.

"The answer is yes and no," I said. "It would be hard, but I could move on with my life eventually. As for finding someone else, I really don't think so."

Judy sighed. I could tell she wasn't satisfied with my answer.

"Hilary if you don't allow yourself to open up to someone else, that means you never really moved on because you never let go of Tyson. I know this is hard for you, but putting your happiness in another person's hands is the worst thing you can do. You're only setting yourself up for heartbreak if they don't return your feelings. Can you handle non-reciprocation? Think hard Hilary."

I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to acknowledge the chance of the only person I loved breaking my heart again, possibly beyond repair. I felt hot tears come to my eyes and I couldn't stop them from falling this time. Judy forced me to look her in the eyes.

"Hilary answer me!" she said. Her voice was harsh, authoritative.

"I-I love him...it'd be so hard to take." My voice was quivering and I hated feeling so vulnerable.

"Yes I know, but you can take it. You are a strong girl Hilary, but you have to be strong enough to handle your own emotions and I know you can do that. Besides, Tyson cares about you more than he lets on so don't fill your head with negative possibilities and rule out a happy ending."

Judy was right. The whole reason I had done this was out of cowardice and running away from my problems never solved them. I only thought of the worst possible scenarios and never considered anything other alternatives. I had jumped to a conclusion too quickly.

"Alright. I'm still not sure about Tyson's feelings, but I am sure about mine. If Tyson does reject me, then we can still be friends," I said. And there was always that faint possibility that he might love me back.

She smiled at me."That's right. Now, please call your mother Hilary. I can only imagine the turmoil she's going through right now."

I nodded and went downstairs. I was still apprehensive about contacting my mother, but she had probably been through all hell worrying about me. I picked up the phone and dialed the number. Mr. Tate was out on an errand so I hoped he wouldn't mind the long-distance charge.

Each time the phone rang, my anxiety grew. I took a deep breath to calm myself. My mom's voice came in on the other line.

"Hello?" She sounded like she had been crying and my heart sank knowing that I was the cause of her suffering.

"Hi mom. It's me." I said softly.

* * *

Cliffhanger! I'm sorry, but this seemed like a really good place to end this chapter. Hope you like it so far. I want to thank Moonlight Serenity for being the first person to review my story! I'm so happy you enjoy it. I'll update soon. 


	8. I'm Coming Hilary

Chapter 7: I'm Coming Hilary

It had been two weeks since Hilary had gone and needless to say, my performance in school was disastrous and although I hated to admit it, Daichi had been right. My beyblading skills had weakened. I could barely tie with Max now.

I was still torn up about everything that had happened, but I blocked the thought out of my mind and concentrated on getting the money I needed to get to New York. Kenny had gone on the Internet and found the typical range of a plane ticket to New York. I couldn't believe it! We would have to pay between 198,900 yen and 265,200 yen and that was just for one person! With all six of us, we'd end up paying 1,326,000 yen on the average.

All the team got together and we pooled our money to see how much we had. Kai had generously decided to donate half of the funds. In other words, we had to beg him non-stop before he finally gave in.

"Tyson look, even with Kai paying half, we don't have near enough yen to cover the expense for all six of us," Kenny said.

"I can see that Chief." I said looking at the considerable amount of money on the floor.

"Well, you could dip into your winnings from the Beyblade tournaments," Ray told me.

"What winnings? He spent half on upgrades for Dragoon, some of which weren't even needed and then his grandfather put the rest in the bank because Tyson was irresponsible," Kai said.

I glared at Kai, but I had to admit that I wasn't the most careful when it came to money. Hilary on the other hand always saved up and she was always trying to get me to do the same. Now I wish I had listened to her.

"Maybe you could ask your dad if he could loan you some money," Max said.

I gave a half-hearted smile. Max was always trying to be helpful. "I'd love to, but unfortunately I have no way to get a hold of him."

"How about asking Hiro?" Daichi asked.

I turned to Daichi, shocked at the suggestion. "That's actually a good idea."

"Or it would've been if you were better with money," Kai interjected. "Do you really think Hiro is going to loan you 700,000 yen? How can you be trusted with someone else's money when you're so loose with your own?"

Now I was really annoyed. "You're just bursting with positive reinforcement today, aren't you Kai?" The sarcasm couldn't have been anymore obvious.

"Truth hurts Tyson," Kai said with a smirk on his face.

Kai may not have known it, and I doubt he would've cared, but what he said cut deep. The memory of Hilary's disappearance, which I had managed to suppress for the better part of two weeks, came flooding back and I had to use every ounce of my self-control to keep a straight face. Instead of tearing up, I smiled at Kai. It was a bitter smile, and I think that anyone who looked at me could see that there was no amusement in my expression.

"You're right Kai, the truth does hurt."

I walked outside and sat on the dojo porch. I couldn't look at Kai without feeling an overwhelming sense of anger and I was afraid of lashing out again. Not because I thought I could actually hurt him, but because he would kick my ass if I tried anything. I was hoping that no one would come talk to me, but I knew that it was an impossibility.

Sure enough, a couple minutes later, Max came out and sat beside me. I could assume that they were chastising Kai trying to make him feel guilty. I inwardly scoffed. Like Kai would ever apologize for anything.

"Don't worry about Kai. He's just trying to approach this realistically."

I turned to him and tried to smile, but I couldn't get one out, not even a forced one. "I'm sorry Max. I'm probably just burdening everyone with all this."

"Don't be silly Tyson. We're happy to help. Hilary's our friend too. We will find her, I promise."

This time, I gave him a genuine smile. I remembered that I had made that same promise to Hilary's mother and I intended to keep it.

"Listen. Chief came up with a good idea. Since it would be really difficult to raise the money needed for all six of us and since finding Hilary means the most to you, he thought maybe you should go on your own. That way, we wouldn't have to shell out so much and Kai wouldn't be out any money."

I smiled from ear to ear when I heard that. "That's a great idea!" I may've sounded a little too enthusiastic, but I didn't care.

"Now that's the Tyson I've come to know!" he said laughing.

"With all our money combined, it should be enough to get one plane ticket even without Kai's help. Hey, will I have to pay you guys back for this?" I asked.

"Nah. Just think of it as an early birthday present."

"Thanks Max, you guys are the best."

"No problem Tyson," he said smiling at me.

Feeling a new rush of hope, I hugged Max to show my gratitude which he was more than happy to return. Once we broke it, I went inside to collect the money and put it in a safe place. I was truly happy for the first time in a while. I'd be in New York by tomorrow and finally be able to see my love again. I couldn't wait!

Unfortunately, the rest of day passed by painfully slow and when night finally came, I was tired just from waiting. But on the bright side, it was only a few hours before I would get on the plane that would lead me to Hilary. Yes, Kenny had actually booked the flight in advance and I would hug him too if I wasn't so sleepy. I drifted off almost immediately with only one thought in my head.

I'm coming Hilary...


	9. Explanation and Reconciliation

Animegod 197 again. I found some spelling mistakes in the previous chapter as well as other mistakes in other chapters that I didn't catch the first time around so they've all been corrected. This chapter, as far as I know, has no spelling mistakes. If you catch any, please alert me. Once again, thank you to all who have looked at this story and given it the time of day. One more thing, I made a change to the list of places the two will visit and made it shorter because I lost interest in writing about all the places on the list. Read and Review!

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Chapter 8: Explanation and Reconciliation

I heard a gasp on the other end of the line signaling my mother's shock at hearing from me after two weeks of separation.

"Hilary? It really is you…Oh thank God you're alright!"

I heard sobbing and this time, I didn't know whether it was from sadness or relief. I was afraid to talk again, for fear of making her cry even more.

"I'm fine mom. Are you alright?" I felt like a total ignoramus the minute the question passed my lips.

Her voice was harsher the next time she spoke. "Hilary, I've been physically sick worrying about you every day. What were you thinking taking off on your own like that?"

"To be honest, I really wasn't thinking," I said trying to keep from sounding meek.

"Why didn't you at least call me to let me know you were okay?"

"I was afraid you'd tell the others where I was and I didn't want them to find me."

"Hilary, I would've kept your location secret if that's what you wanted. I just needed to know you were okay." She sighed. "We'll talk about this later. Where are you now?"

"I'm in New York at Max's dad's house," I said. I still felt nervous about telling her where I was, though I had no idea why.

Another gasp from over the phone. "So, he was right…" I heard her say softly.

He? Who was he? "Mom, what are you talking about?"

"Tyson. He came to me about a week and a half ago and told me that he and his friends thought that you might be in New York because there were adults you knew there."

I paused and let this information sink in. Tyson had spoken to my mother about me. Tyson was looking for me. Tyson…cared about me. He wanted to know I was safe. He wanted to see me again. I was elated beyond comprehension for a few seconds, reveling in the feeling of knowing that the one I loved cared enough to try to find me. Then another thought occurred to me. Tyson knew where I was. He was probably going to be coming for me soon. I was afraid, but I now knew that I could handle it. I could finally let out my feelings.

"Hilary?" My mom's voice pulled me from my thoughts.

"Oh I'm sorry. Tyson talked to you? What did he say?"

"I was surprised at first because he seemed just as worried about you as I was. He's been distraught since you left. His grades are even worse now according to his grandfather and even his performance in that spinning top game has suffered."

Wow. I knew he'd be a little worried, but I never expected him to be this concerned.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I never should've left like that. I was scared and I didn't know what else to do."

"Why did you leave? What were you scared of?" she asked.

I sighed. I knew that question would come up sooner or later, though I would've preferred later.

"Mom, I left because of Tyson. I have very strong feelings for him and I was afraid that he wouldn't return those feelings. Not being able to let it out hurt so out of cowardice, I just left. You must be so angry with me…"

"Hilary, I'm just glad you're alright. Please come home."

"I will…" I tried my best to keep from sobbing and I barely succeeded. I hung up and just then, Judy came in.

"Hilary, I've called American Airlines and scheduled a flight two days from now back to Japan," she said.

I smiled at her generosity and quick-thinking. "Thanks, Mrs. Tate."

"Oh Hilary, call me by my first name. It's okay."

"Alright. Should I start packing?" I asked.

"No need to rush. I thought we could actually spend the next day exploring the city. You know, see the sights."

I beamed at the suggestion. It sounded like a great idea. It would give me a chance to learn more about his city and more importantly, get my mind off of Tyson. "Sure. But wait, don't you have to work?"

She laughed. It was a light-hearted laugh, so she didn't seem to view this detail as a problem.

"I can take a day off. There are plenty of people at the BBA research laboratory here that can take my place. I wanted this to be a day for just you and me."

"Okay. Where are we going?" I asked.

"Well, I made out a list of all the things we could see."

I took a small piece of paper and scanned it. It was of moderate length. The attractions included the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, the Rockefeller Center, the New York Botanical Garden, and a couple big malls.

"Judy, are you sure we're going to be able to see all these places in one day?"

"Look sweetie, we've got the whole day to ourselves and it's not like we'll be spending hours at a time at any one of these places."

She was right. It was going to be a great trip and I could hardly wait. I felt a lot better now, so that was gonna make this tour all the more enjoyable. And better still, after that I'd see Tyson again. Things were finally starting to look up.


	10. All Around Fifth Avenue

AN: Hey everyone! I know it seems like forever since I updated, so finally here's a new chapter! Now there are a couple of things I should tell you before you start reading. I had originally planned for this to be the last chapter, but after realizing how long the whole thing was (over 12,000 words), I decided that would be better to break it up into sections, so that way you wouldn't have so much text to sift through. Each section will be posted as a separate chapter. Also, I will be switching between Hilary and Tyson's locations in each chapter, so I can show both points of view up until the actual reunion. You'll know when the switches occur, don't worry. I hope you like it. Read & Review!

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Chapter 9: All Around Fifth Avenue

It was dawn. The first gentle rays of sunlight were just beginning to slip over the horizon. Unfortunately, Hilary Tatibana didn't have the benefit of a conveniently placed window through which these rays could shine through as she wasn't in her own home so she had to be shaken awake instead.

Hilary slowly opened her eyes and after they adjusted to the light, she could make out the form of Judy Tate standing over her bedside. She slowly rose and sat up.

"Good morning Judy," she said.

A yawn escaped her lips and she rubbed her eyes as if to wipe away the last remnants of slumber.

"Good morning Hilary. You need to hurry and get ready. It's already a quarter past six and we leave at 7:30,"

"Oh okay."

Judy left the room. After walking around a bit to steady herself, Hilary dug into her suitcase and pulled out a black tank top, her red jacket and a pair of tight navy-blue jeans. Once that was done, she went to the bathroom since that was the only room with a mirror in the house. Hilary saw her reflection and grimaced. Her skin looked dry and her hair was disheveled.

"Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to change. I'm a mess. I need a shower."

There was a large cabinet and when Hilary opened it, she saw it was full of towels.

"Well, that's one problem solved," she said.

She took out a large pink towel and hung it on the rack in the wall. She then took off her pajamas and got inside the tub. Using her palm, Hilary tested the water and adjusted the knobs until it was the desired temperature. She pulled the faucet knob and stood up. The multiple streams of hot water shot out and cascaded down her body. Hilary smiled and stood there for a moment, relishing the soothing feeling.

"Well, I better make this quick. I don't want to keep Judy waiting."

She looked to her right and saw an assortment of shampoos and gels as well as a big bar of soap. She raised an eyebrow at the sight. As far as she knew, only Mr. Tate and Max lived here.

"I know guys have personal hygiene needs too, but this is a little peculiar."

Hilary shook her head. It was none of her business. She grabbed the bar of soap and searched for something to use. She found a small loofah in one of the corners. Stepping away from the water, she rubbed the soap firmly onto it and proceeded to wash her entire body. After repeating this twice, Hilary then took a bottle of shampoo and sprayed the substance straight on her hair.

She rubbed her hands through the brown strands until the shampoo had been worked into lather. After letting the substance settle, Hilary went back into the water, which was still quite warm, and put her head under the shower head and allowed the lather to be washed away. She kept her eyes shut tight to avoid getting any in her eyes.

Once she was certain that her hair was clean, Hilary rinsed one more time and then cut the shower off. Stepping out, she grabbed the towel and wrapped it around herself. Once she dried off, Hilary covered herself and went back to Max's room to change clothes. Afterwards, she took a brush from her suitcase and combed her hair.

"There is one advantage to having short hair. Combing it isn't a constant hassle," she muttered.

She put on white socks and slipped into her shoes as a last act of preparation. Confident in her appearance, Hilary smiled to herself. She looked at the clock and saw that she had only used 20 minutes getting ready.

"I'm making good time, so I might as well fix the bed."

She spread the covers and fixing the bed only took two minutes. She moved to leave, but as she opened the door, something crossed her mind. She paused and on impulse, said to an empty room, "I wonder what Tyson's doing..."

* * *

Tyson was at the airport in waiting for his flight to be called. He had gotten there very early because he didn't want to risk missing the plane. He glanced over at the clock and it read 7:45 meaning that he had another hour and a half to wait as the plane left at nine. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn't have rushed.

He had gotten up at 6:30, (one of the only times he got up early) and had gotten ready in half an hour which was a lot more timely than usual. He ate breakfast fast (then again, he always did) and was out the door, barely talking to anyone. After waiting for what seemed like hours, the bus finally came and he was at there in about 15 minutes. Now he was stuck on a bench with nothing to do. Tyson sighed heavily. The only good thing about this was that he had time to reflect on all that had happened.

He still had no idea why Hilary left and he had gotten frequent headaches trying to figure it out. He had entertained a few possibilities but they didn't answer the question to his satisfaction. Maybe she left because she didn't feel she belonged with the team. After all, Hilary was the only one that couldn't beyblade. But if that were true, why did she stay with them for the past two years? Maybe she thought she wasn't appreciated. No one on the team really acknowledged all she'd done for the team. Especially him. Looking back on everything, Tyson couldn't remember one time when he had thanked her, aside from when she consoled him after Max and Ray left.

He sighed again. A troubling thought had entered his mind just then. Maybe it was because of him. Now that he considered it, it seemed obvious. He was the one who always put her down and made her feel useless. When they talked, it was rarely a conversation, but instead an argument. Even if he didn't always start the fights, Tyson sure as hell knew how to finish them. Nearly every time they fought, he would come up with some horrible name to call her and, in the process, attack her character. He had called her nearly every name in the book: bossy, overbearing, witch, dictator, ice queen, bitch, clueless, even slut and whore. They were some of the names Daichi used now and now he hated it and was angry at himself for ever doing it.

Not only that, Tyson couldn't count how many times he said that Hilary was worthless or any synonym for the word. And with every insult he hurled at her, he just pushed her and pushed her until she broke. She would shout at him, calling him a jerk or a more extreme verb and sometimes she wouldn't say anything and just run off in tears. In reality, Tyson knew that he usually deserved the insults and the tongue-lashings she gave him even if he didn't want to admit that.

The more he thought about it, the worse he felt. Tyson never meant any of the derogatory things he said to Hilary, but she couldn't believe that because he never stopped saying them. He would apologize and then do the same thing again later. Why should she believe anything he said? It was only recently that the two had begun to get along better and even now, he seriously doubted that Hilary had forgotten their past history. Tyson wouldn't blame her if she had left because of what he'd done. Hell, she'd have every reason to given all the crap he put her through.

He sighed for the third time since he had gotten there and hung his head in shame. Out of habit, Tyson whispered four words he'd already said to her over and over, as though it might somehow make up for all he'd done.

"I'm so sorry Hilary..."

Of course, he knew very well that she couldn't hear him, but it was all he could do to clear alleviate his conscience of the some of the enormous guilt he harbored. He glanced at the clock again and it read 8:15. Apparently, he had used half an hour up just thinking.

Tyson chuckled at the realization. "Maybe if I ponder a little more, I can use up another forty-five minutes."

* * *

Hilary and Judy were driving down Fifth Avenue. The car was quiet so Hilary decided to break the silence with a question.

"Where are we going first Judy?" Hilary asked.

"The Empire State Building. It's closest."

"That's the world's tallest building."

"Well, it's the tenth tallest building now. The Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan is the tallest building. Still, at 102 stories, the Empire State Building is quite a sight."

"Are we going inside?"

"Oh heavens no! That's a business center. Don't worry. Looking up at it will make up for it." She smiled at Hilary.

They pulled up to the structure and got out of the car. Hilary's gaze slowly traveled up until she was looking straight up at the sky.

"I can't even see the top," she said.

"That's why it's the tallest building in New York. The spire is its most distinctive feature and its observation deck gives a beautiful view of the city."

"Can we go up to the deck?" Hilary asked.

"Sorry, but we can't. But there's an observation deck at the Rockefeller Center and we can go up there. There's a spectacular view of the city at night, so we'll go there tonight."

Hilary beamed at Judy. "Thanks Judy."

"There are some other facts about the building you should know. Well actually they're just little tidbits, but it doesn't hurt. The building has 6,500 windows, 73 elevators, 100 bathrooms, the second largest office complex in America, weighs 336,000 tons, and cost $40,948,900 to build."

Hilary's eyes widened. "Wow, that's a lot of information," she said. "And it all adds to the grandness of the place."

Judy sighed at that comment. "Actually Hilary, despite the majesty of the building there is a darker side. Over the years, more than thirty people have committed suicide at this site. Unfortunately, that's one of the things this place is known for."

Hilary looked up at the building and her countenance became mournful. "It must've been so painful for those people," she whispered.

"Really, hitting the ground from the height that these people jumped off would make death instantaneous, so they probably felt no pain," Judy said looking sad herself.

"That's not much of a consolation," Hilary said averting her eyes to the ground.

"Let's get off the subject," Judy said smiling. "There's another thing that makes the building a standout."

"What's that?" Hilary asked her expression curious.

"The floodlights. They were added in 1964 to illuminate the top of the building at night. It's very beautiful, I've seen it."

"How do you know all this?" Hilary asked.

"I'm a scientist, so I research random things in my spare time,"

"Nerd..." Hilary muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Judy asked.

"Oh nothing!" Hilary said giving a big smile.

* * *

Tyson had just boarded the plane. Because he was a celebrity, he easily got first class. The trip would take at least eleven hours so Tyson knew he'd spend a good amount of time sleeping. The plane hadn't taken off just yet, so Tyson got on his seatbelt and took out a Beyblade magazine. He flipped through the book looking at parts that would be good for Dragoon.

A young woman walked up and took a seat next to Tyson, but he hardly noticed. She strapped herself in and then glanced at Tyson.

"Hello," she said.

He turned from his magazine and smiled at her. "Oh hi. What's your name?"

"Annabel. I don't see teenagers on planes a lot, much less in first class, so you must have a lot of money," she said.

"I'm Tyson Granger World Beyblade champ, so I get in easier than most," he said chuckling.

"Is that right? I've seen Beyblade matches on TV before, but I didn't know who the champion was. You must be quite good."

"The best! So, why are you going to New York?" Tyson asked.

"Oh I'm visiting relatives there. Why are you going?"

"Well actually, I'm looking for someone."

"Looking for someone? It is it a family member?" she asked.

"No it's a special friend."

"What happened? How did you get separated?" Annabel asked.

"She left Tokyo without telling anyone and I promised someone I would find her."

"That's awfully strange. To leave without telling anyone, she must've been running away from something."

Or someone. And Tyson couldn't shake the feeling that that someone was him. The captain's voice came over the loudspeaker just then.

"Passengers, the plane is now ready for take-off, so please make sure that your seatbelts are firmly fastened and that you know where the emergency equipment is in case of a problem. Thank you."

The plane began to make a lot of noise, signaling the engines starting and not long afterwards, Tyson felt the plane moving. They were up in the air in less than a minute.

Tyson looked out the small window and saw the ground give way to sky. He was on his way to Hilary and he was excited yet nervous at the same time.

_I'll be there soon Hil.

* * *

_

Hilary and Judy were back on Fifth Avenue and Hilary was too wrapped up in the skyscrapers on the street to ask questions. She felt the car turn and so she decided to look to the other side and saw a very large building complex. The car slowly pulled to a stop.

"Where are we?" Hilary asked.

"The Rockefeller Center," Judy answered.

Hilary gasped in surprise. "I thought you said we weren't going here until tonight."

"I never said we would only go in the evening. There are a couple of things I want you to see before we go up to the observation deck."

They drove up around an extremely tall building that resembled the Empire State Building in exterior.

"This is the GE Building. The building we're looking for is the 10 Rockefeller Plaza," Judy said.

"Where is it?" Hilary asked.

Judy looked around for a moment and then pointed to a fairly tall building across the street. "That's the plaza."

"How can you tell? They all look the same."

"There's a sign on the entrance," Judy said plainly.

"Oh. Well what exactly do you want to show me?" Hilary asked.

"Have you heard of the Today show?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, Studio 1A where the show is held is in that building."

"Really? I'd like to see it."

"Well let's go!"

They drove to the plaza and walked inside. The lobby was quite large and there were three elevators. The two went up to the left elevator and Judy pressed UP and they waited for it to open. Once it did open they went inside and Hilary pressed the 1A button and waited. The elevator door opened several moments later and Hilary and Judy were greeted by the sleek, clean studio of the Today show. The walls were adorned with a combination of orange blue and white with the Today logo clearly visible.

"Very nice. But I thought the show did most of their stuff outside," Hilary said.

"The show usually has a musical performance and a weather report which is done outside. Any special occasions, such as Christmas or Thanksgiving celebrations, are also held outside," Judy said.

"I just wish that the reporters were actually here so we could meet them and ask questions."

"Well, they're very busy. Speaking of which, we should probably get going. We'll be back tonight to look at the city from the deck."

"Alright then."

* * *

Tyson tried to keep his attention on the magazine he was reading, but his mind kept drifting back to Hilary or more precisely his feelings toward her.

Tyson had felt an attraction to Hilary for a long time, and over time it had grown into something more than just friendship. He had never breathed a word of this to anyone, but his teammates had somehow figured out that he had a crush on her. Of course, now it was more than a crush, and everyone had told him to confess. Tyson denied having any feelings for Hilary for a while, but he eventually admitted it to himself and then to Ray since he was confident the neko-jin would keep his secret.

Even though he had admitted it to himself, Tyson had never said anything to Hilary because he was afraid it would ruin the fragile friendship they had. Their relationship had always been rocky and Tyson thought that if he told Hilary his feelings, she would hate him.

_I'd be surprised if she doesn't hate me already._

His heart told him differently. If she hated him, she would've left a long time ago. He was grateful to her for always being there and he had only just started letting her know.

_Maybe if I had told her I loved her before, she'd still be in Tokyo._

Unfortunately, logic said that if he had told Hilary that his feelings for her were more than that of friendship, she may've withdrawn from him due to their past history.

_Well I don't care. When I see her, I'm telling her my real feelings. And if she rejects me…I'll get over it eventually. I don't deserve her anyway…

* * *

_

Driving back down Fifth Avenue, Judy glanced at Hilary and said, "How about we go by Sikes Center Mall?"

"How come?" Hilary asked.

"Just to browse," she answered. "Who knows? Maybe you'll find something nice for yourself. Or maybe you'll find something for Tyson."

Hilary seemed to tense at the mention of his name. Her expression turned to one of sadness and anxiety.

"Oh. Hilary, are you still worried about Tyson's feelings for you?" Judy asked.

"No. It's just…I don't want Tyson to be angry at me for leaving. Sounds dumb I know, but I can't help it. Tyson takes his friendships so seriously and I'm afraid that he'll think my leaving is undervaluing our friendship and that's the last thing I want considering our relationship is so frail."

Judy's eyes widened in shock for a moment and then her expression slowly turned to one of frustration. She slammed her foot on the break and the car skidded to a stop on the side of the road. The force of the sudden movement threw Hilary against her seat.

"Pardon my language Judy, but what the hell?" Hilary yelled.

"I will not sit here and listen to you demean yourself or your relationship with Tyson! Hilary, you and Tyson may've fought a lot in the past, but from what you told me, you've been getting along great recently. And besides, do you really think that Tyson, someone whom you describe as having a heart of gold, would shut one of his friends out of his life over an impulsive mistake? Two years ago when you and the Bladebreakers were fighting team Psychic, Tyson kept his friendship with Kane even though you had evidence that he was in league with the organization that was trying to take his bit beast!"

Judy did have a point. Maybe she was just overreacting again. Judy put her hand on Hilary's shoulder and smiled at her.

"Hilary, I can assure you that Tyson cares about you too much to be angry over a mistake."

"Even one as big as this?" Hilary countered.

"Compared to some of the mistakes Tyson has made, what you did shouldn't even register on the radar. Now I forbid you to dwell on this any longer or to be depressed understand?"

Hilary smiled in spite of herself. "Yes ma'am!"

* * *

Annabel noticed Tyson's far off disposition and was beginning to worry about him even though she'd only known him for about half an hour.

"Tyson, is anything wrong? Are you worried about your friend?" she asked.

"Not really worried. I don't think anything bad happened. I just don't know what I'm gonna do when I see her," he answered.

"It's not any of my business, but this friend, what exactly is your relationship with her? She must be very important to you to go through all this trouble."

Tyson couldn't help but blush at the question. "She is. She's one of my best friends. I care about her a lot."

"Is anyone else looking for her?"

"My team helped me get to this point. We all want to see her again."

"What about her parents? Does she have any?"

"Her mom is the only one who she told that she was leaving."

"Why is it that you're the only one on this plane then?" Annabel asked looking intently at him.

He was caught by surprise by the question but regained his composure quickly. "Money issues," Tyson stated simply.

She chuckled. "Oh I can understand that. I had to take out some of my savings to afford this trip. My salary doesn't allow for a lot of luxurious spending."

Tyson turned his head away from Annabel as if in thought about something, and then quickly turned back. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," she said.

"If you and a friend had a rocky relationship and you did or said something to really hurt them, without necessarily knowing it, do you think that it would be enough for them to just up and leave?"

"Are you referring to your relationship with this girl?" Annabel asked.

"Yeah…" he said very softly, hoping she wouldn't hear him. No such luck.

"What happened? Did you two argue a lot?"

"Initially yes, but we've been getting along a lot better."

"Well, the only thing I can say is that if you're relationship has gotten stronger and if you two really care about each other, then you should be able to pull through this."

Tyson smiled at Annabel. "Thanks."

"No problem," she said smiling back.

* * *

Hilary and Judy were in a jewelry store. Hilary seemed a lot happier and she was actively looking through the displays with Judy.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Hilary asked.

"Oh nothing in particular," she answered. "What about you?"

"I see some beautiful rings. Maybe I'll buy one of the less expensive ones."

"Hilary, any purchases we make will be on me. I told you this whole trip is my treat."

"Oh I don't want to inconvenience you-"

Judy put a finger up to silence her. "I'm paying, that's that," she said firmly, while smiling.

"Okay…"

"So are you going to purchase any of these rings? If not, we can go on to look at some dresses."

"Maybe I'll come back one day when I'm getting married to get a ring. Also, can we go and look at a general clothing store first? I want to get a few pairs of jeans so I don't have to wear skirts all the time."

"Sure."

The two left and went into Old Navy right to the pants section. After finding her size, she got two pairs of blue jeans, two pairs of black jeans and one pair of bejeweled dark blue jeans (for when she wanted to look fancy).

"Anything else?" Judy asked.

"Nope, that's it," Hilary answered.

The total costs of the jeans totaled nearly $400 (mostly because of the bejeweled jeans), but Judy paid for it without hesitation.

"Alright, now let's go to Catherine's," Judy said.

After walking to an adjacent section of the building, the two went into the store.

"So Judy, are you planning on buying anything?"

Judy giggled. "Well yes. All I seem to have in my closet are business suits so I want to get something more practical and that I'll be able to use for special occasions."

They went around looking at various blouses and dresses. Judy stopped at took down a long slim black dress that had small diamonds all down the dress.

"What do you think of this color?" Judy asked Hilary.

"I think it would look great on you, especially with the jewels. Do you want to go into a dressing room to try it on?"

"There's no need. It looks like it'll fit fine. Have you found anything you want?"

"Well there was this gorgeous red dress that had this flowing thread on the sleeves that I really like, but it's far too expensive."

"How much does it cost?"

"$675," she said flatly.

"Well this dress costs nearly $900 and I plan on buying it. It's okay, I'll pay with my credit card. With my salary, I've got more than enough money in my checking account."

They went and got Hilary's dress and then went to the cashier.

"My, these are expensive. Are you sure you want to purchase them?" the lady asked.

"Yes. It's okay. You can just charge it to my Visa card."

"Alright then."

* * *

Tyson glanced at Annabel and asked, "Hey, do you have a watch? What time is it?"

She glanced at her wristwatch and then back at Tyson. "It's right at 10:00," she said.

Tyson slumped in his seat and sighed. He had only been on the plane for an hour and already he was restless. He wished at that moment that he could somehow just manipulate the flow of time and make this trip go faster so he could get to Hilary.

_I wonder what you're doing now Hilary. Do you miss us? Do you miss me? Are you happier there than you were with the team? If you are, then I won't ask you to come back, but I hope that you do. That may sound selfish, but I love you and I want you with me._

His inner monologue had helped to clear his mind. He just wished that he had been able to say it out loud in front of Hilary.

_Well, ten hours to go. I might as well get some sleep.

* * *

_

Driving down the same road, Hilary had suggested that they find a place to sit down and give their feet a rest. Judy said that she knew the perfect place. As soon as they reached their destination, Hilary knew where they were and her gasp of pleasant surprise let Judy know that she had picked the right place.

They stepped out of the car and were met with dozens of trees, beautiful grass, benches for people to sit on, and several play areas for the little ones. They were in Central Park.

"This is beautiful. I've always wanted to go here," Hilary said.

"Come on, let's go sit down."

The found a wide bench and sat down. They looked around for a while just taking in the scenery.

"Even though I live in Manhattan, I don't get to come here very often," Judy said. "I'm usually at the lab."

"Maybe you should take days off more often," Hilary said laughing lightly.

Judy laughed with her. "I wish I could, but research never sleeps. If I'm not there, someone else has to handle my job and let me tell you, it's no picnic."

"Um…Judy," Hilary started.

"If this has anything to do with Tyson or anything else negative, I don't wanna hear it," Judy said before she could finish.

"Well, it does have to do with Tyson, but I swear it's not negative," Hilary said.

Judy sighed. "Alright, what is it?" she asked, apprehension obvious in her voice.

"When I talked to my mom yesterday, she told me in essence that Tyson knew where I was and if I'm right, he's going to be coming here soon."

"Are you nervous?" Judy asked.

"A little, but I'm also a little relieved that I'm going to be reunited with him." Hilary smiled at the thought.

"Well that's good. You know that this proves that he really does care about you, a lot."

"Yes I know. I already knew he cared. I just…didn't think he cared this much."

Judy smiled. "What did I tell you?" she said confidently.

"There is one problem that I have. What I did was cowardly and I know that Tyson will forgive me, but still I want to do something to make it up to him or else I'll never forgive myself."

"What do you have in mind?" Judy asked.

"Something that would mean a lot to him. At this point, I don't know what I could possibly give him."

"Well, I think I may have a good idea. We'll go back to the mall once we're through here."

"Well, I'm just glad that his whole thing will be over soon and I can go home. Not that I don't like it here."

"We'll probably rest here for about twenty more minutes and then get going again. Is that alright?"

"Oh yes, of course. Where are we going next?"

"The Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Met."

* * *

Annabel looked over at Tyson who was slouched over in his seat asleep. She giggled.

"I don't know if he's actually tired or if he's just trying to pass the time." Seeing him so peaceful brought a soft smile to her face. "For a teenager to go this far to find a friend, it's really admirable. I don't know many other young people who would go halfway around the world for a friendship, even best friends. Maybe…" She stared at Tyson closely as if trying to see into his heart, but then shook her head fiercely. "No, it's none of my business."


	11. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hello everyone who's been waiting forever for an update to this story. I have a confession to make. I actually finished the last chapter of this story a LONG time ago. I haven't updated because the chapters in between the last update and the last chapter were giving me unbelievable writer's block. After two years, I have FINALLY decided to just change the amount of places Hilary and Judy visit and get this done! The next chapters will all be posted today, starting with this one. The flow may feel somewhat stilted but I hope you enjoy the rest of the story anyway. Read & Review.

* * *

Chapter 10: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hilary and Judy were in the main room of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hilary was flabbergasted at how large it was and by the sheer number of people there. The foyer was ivory all around with majestic pillars and beautiful glass windows in a semicircle built in a gothic style at the very top on the north and south sides of the foyer. In the middle of the display was a gorgeous fountain that only added to the awesome appearance of the building.

"I can't believe this..." Hilary said.

"I know. It's amazing isn't it?" Judy said.

"How many sections does this building have?" Hilary asked.

"Well, the museum as a whole contains nineteen departments each with its own unique form of art."

"Wow...there must be thousands of pieces here."

"Two million to be exact," an unfamiliar male voice said.

Just ahead they saw a man walking toward them. He sported graying hair as well as a receding hairline. He had on a gray business suit and wore glasses. From his facial features, Hilary estimated him to be in his early sixties.

Judy smiled at the man. "Oh hello," she said cheerfully. She turned to Hilary. "Hilary, this is Philippe de Montebello. He's the presiding director of the museum."

Judy and Philippe shook hands. "Hello Judy. It's been a long time," Philippe said smiling.

"You two know each other?" Hilary asked, looking perplexed.

"Yes. She's come here often so we've had time to get acquainted. Now as I was saying before, there are two million works of art in our collection. Everything from Greek sculptures to modern American and European paintings."

"Judy, will we be going to all the departments?"

"Hm? Oh God no! There's too much ground to cover. We'll just be going to a few select sections of the museum."

"Which ones exactly?" Hilary asked.

"Let me get my list," she said. Judy dug into her purse and pulled out a sheet of notebook paper."We're going to the Arms and Armor department, European sculptures, and the Greek and Roman Art department."

A cough from Philippe got their attention. "As you can see, this is a very large building so a map may be helpful to you." He handed Judy a large schematic of the building.

"It certainly would. Thank you Philippe," Judy said.

The two turned and walked down the hall. Hilary followed behind Judy and looked around at the architecture (considering she had no idea where they were going). The jarring sensation of bumping into Judy's back brought her back to reality.

The older woman turned to a slightly dazed Hilary. "Hilary, are you alright?" she asked, her face showing concern.

Hilary shook her head, trying to regain her senses. "I'm fine," she said. Hilary made a mental note to walk beside Judy the rest of the way to avoid another mishap.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"The Greek and Roman Art gallery," Judy answered.

Looking around, Hilary saw that the room had the design of an ancient Greek temple (without the obvious decay indicative of hundreds of years of abandonment). There were mostly sculptures and pottery.

"Come on, I'll show you a few of the standouts in this gallery," Judy said. She grabbed Hilary's arm and pulled her along.

The first display they came to was of a small bronze statue. It was of a person in a full body veil. The description indicated the statue was made sometime between the third and second century B.C.

Hilary raised an eyebrow. "Why is this one so special? I can't even tell if it's a male or a female."

"It's of a dancer with a mask, and I think the sense of mystery that it invokes is what makes it special," Judy said.

"More like confusing."

"Well, that's one of the great things about art. It can be interpreted in a lot of different ways."

"Let's go to another one," Hilary said.

"Alright."

Judy pulled Hilary again until they stopped at another statue, this one larger and made from marble. It was clearly an old woman. She was clothed in a long strapped gown. One thing struck Hilary as very odd. Her arms were missing.

"What happened? I know that statue couldn't have been made purposely without arms."

"I don't know. Maybe someone dropped it or maybe it got damaged in transport."

"Did they mess up the face too? Because she looks like she's in pain."

Judy laughed. "I think that was intentional. Come on, there's one more statue I want to look at."

"Okay, but don't drag me this time," Hilary said, rubbing her arm for emphasis.

The two walked over to another bronze statue. It was a little over four feet tall. It was of a boy probably no older than Daichi, with a robe covering him from the waist down and with his chest exposed.

"This one is definitely the best of the three," Hilary said.

"Why? Is it because the statue is a boy?" Judy teased.

"No! It's complete, you can see all the details, and it looks natural."

"Well, that makes sense. Is there anything else you want to see before we move on?"

Hilary looked around and saw a display with a colorful plate. She walked over and motioned for Judy to follow her. Upon closer inspection, they saw it was a bowl. It was white, blue, gold and purple. Each color covered a fourth of the bowl with all four colors meeting in the center of the bowl. Each side of the bowl was also decorated with a pretzel-shaped rope design painted on.

"Good choice Hilary," Judy said smiling at the pottery. "What made you want to see this one?"

"I just love the way it looks. The use of color is the best part."

"Well, you certainly have good taste. Come on, the next exhibit we'll see is the European Sculptures and Decorative Arts section."

* * *

Tyson woke with a start. He stretched and blinked several times to get over the lingering drowsiness.

"So you finally woke up. The flight attendant came by to serve lunch, but you were asleep," Annabel said.

Tyson's eyes widened in shock. "Why didn't you wake me up?" he half-shouted.

"Calm down! I saved your plate for you. You just looked so peaceful that I didn't have the heart to wake you."

"Well, I never want to miss a meal, so if I'm asleep and there's food, wake me up."

"Alright. Here you go," she said, handing him his plate.

Tyson took off the aluminum foil and saw barbeque, corn, salad, and mashed potatoes.

"Alright! Hey, where's the silverware?" he asked Annabel.

"Here you go." She handed him a napkin with a spoon, a fork and a knife.

"Thanks."

Tyson began shoveling the food into his mouth and it was Annabel's turn to be surprised. He finished in less than five minutes.

"I've never seen anyone eat a meal that fast. You must really love food."

He grinned. "Yep!"

_Well, it's good to see him smiling. Maybe this will take his mind off that girl. Now that I think of it, I don't know her name. Oh well, I'll ask him later.

* * *

_

Hilary and Judy walked into a long hallway and stopped. Some of the pillars here were painted red and on either side were tall glass windows in the shape of a pentagon giving a view of the outside. Statues seemed to be the only things on display.

"Well, here we are," Judy said. "This is a large exhibit so stay by me. I don't want you getting lost."

The first statue they saw was one Hilary recognized almost immediately. It was of the Virgin Mary beside baby Jesus, with both apparently surrounded by baby angels.

"This is nice," Hilary stated. "The Nativity story is one I hear about every December from my mom."

"I told it to Max when he was a little boy, but it went in one ear and out the other. All he cared about was Santa and the presents under the tree." They both giggled at the image of Max as a child.

The two went to the end of the hall and stopped at display that had statues of two lions beside each other.

"I love the detail on these, especially the manes," Judy said.

"They're life-like alright," Hilary agreed. "But the facial expressions are off-putting. They look like their scared and it makes them seem cartoonish. I think the artist, in trying to make the lions seem more real, ended up overcompensating."

Judy looked at Hilary and smiled. "You know, you're very perceptive. Maybe you should become a critic."

Hilary shook her head. "I'd be one of those brutal critics who's impossible to please."

Judy laughed. "Let's go. The next hallway has mostly pottery, but what I really want you to see is the part of the exhibit that showcases whole rooms from different places in Europe."

"They have entire rooms here on display?" Hilary asked, her voice carrying both surprise and slight disbelief.

"That's right. Oh you'll love it!"

Judy grabbed Hilary's arm again and ran.

_Not again! _Hilary thought dismally.

Judy turned down another hallway and kept running, dragging Hilary along. The younger girl had to run to keep from losing her balance. When Judy suddenly came to a stop, Hilary nearly bumped into her again. After catching her breath, she looked up and saw a chalice. It was golden in color with sun rays on the cup and at the bottom. Lily petals circled a protrusion in the middle of a thin handle. Projecting from the base were twelve semicircles.

"Nice looking cup," Hilary said dryly.

"I was just noticing the design. It's very fluid. Whoever made this was very particular about what images to use and where to use them," Judy remarked.

"I see. It'd be nice to have something like that in your house for special occasions."

"Yes, I suppose it would. Well, let's see some of those rooms."

"Okay, but we're walking this time," Hilary said.

* * *

Annabel and Tyson had been sitting in relative silence for a while and the name of the girl that Tyson seemed so desperate to find was nagging at Annabel's mind. Turning to the young Beyblade champion, she took a preparatory breath before speaking.

"Tyson?"

Tyson looked up from the magazine he was reading and turned to her. "What is it?"

"Well, I just realized that you never did say the name of this friend you're looking for."

"Oh. Her name is Hilary Tatibana."

"Sorry if it seems like I'm being nosy, I was just curious."

"No, that's okay."

_Well, I'm glad that's settled.

* * *

_

Hilary and Judy stood inside a small bedroom from a place called Sageredo Palace, according to the description. The bed was medium-sized with a pink top cover and a light red head board. There was a small chair next to the bed and on the ceiling was what looked to be a perfectly circular chandelier, dark brown in color. Hanging above the entrance door were baby angel statues.

"I know this is probably just a replica, but did someone actually sleep in this bedroom?" Hilary asked.

"Oh this is merely a work of art. The description simply says it's a bedroom, and doesn't give any details. It only exists in this museum, it was never an actual bedroom."

"Really? But I thought that the rooms here were reconstructions of actual places in Europe."

"Some are, but some are just made from scratch. All of them are works of architecture and were made purely for one's visual enjoyment."

"Well, they did a great job on this one."

"I agree, although from what I heard from Philippe, when this room was originally designed, it wasn't appreciated by the critics. I can't imagine why. Anyway, the last thing we'll see is the Armor department."

* * *

The two came into a large room with many different flags hanging from the walls. There were several glass cases throughout the room. Hilary walked over to the two knights on horses in front of her.

"This is must be the Medieval section," she said.

"It appears so. Can you imagine the men that went into battle in these heavy stuffy suits?" Judy asked.

"And some of them on horseback no less," Hilary added. "They must have stunk constantly."

They went around the rest of the room looking at helmets & other suits of armor.

"Are those flags supposed to represent something?" Hilary asked.

"They're national flags from different countries and I assume that they represent where the armor originally came from, but I don't know for sure."

"Well, are we ready to go now?" Hilary asked.

"I suppose. Is there any other section you want to see?" Judy asked.

"No, this is good."

* * *

Once they were out of the Met, Judy and Hilary rode down the now familiar entertainment center that was Fifth Avenue. Once they reached a four way intersection, Judy turned down Seventh Avenue. Because this was a section of downtown that Hilary was unfamiliar with, she decided to ask where their next destination was.

"So, what's the next stop on our tour of the Big Apple?"

"I never did understand why they call this city by that name," Judy said. "But that's beside the point. We're going to one of the most beautiful gardens in the world."


	12. NY Botanical Garden & Tyson's Arrival

Hello. Here's chapter 11 of the story. It was originally supposed to be chapter 12, but the eleventh chapter was never going to get written because I lost interest in it. I hope you enjoy this one. The next chapter will be the reunion between Tyson and Hilary. Read & Review.

* * *

Chapter 11: The New York Botanical Garden & Tyson's Arrival

Hilary and Judy pulled up to the New York Botanical Garden. From outside appearances, the building looked fairly large but both of them knew that it was even larger inside.

"Hilary, this is one of the premier botanical gardens in the United States. It covers most of Bronx Park, spanning 250 acres. There's a library and several other areas. Actually, events are held here throughout the year."

"Botanical gardens are mostly for scientific purposes right?" Hilary asked.

"Right, so that means that there are laboratories here as well as foliage."

"What building is that?" she asked pointing to a large white building covered with a dome.

"That's the Enid. A. Haupt Conservatory. It's the research center of this facility and has several sections that display different types of plants from different regions of the world. You could consider it one of the gardens here."

"One of them? How many others are here?"

"There are fifty different gardens in total. The Conservatory is the main one and is also the largest. We'll be visiting four of the others."

Judy drove to the Conservatory entrance and even as they walked up to the building, they could see lush, green bushes and a few small trees. Judy knocked on the door. A few seconds later, a woman greeted them. She looked to be in her early forties and was about Judy's height.

"Hello. My name is Francisca Coehlo, director of the Enid. A. Haupt Conservatory. Welcome."

"Hello. I'm Judy Tate, an employee of the research laboratory of the BBA in Manhattan. This is Hilary Tatibana and we're here to visit the garden."

"Great. Now there is a fee for admission. It's six dollars for adults, three dollars for students who live in the Bronx area."

Judy's expression faltered. "Oh. Hilary is from Tokyo. Can she still come in?" she asked.

"How old is she?"

"Sixteen."

"Well, I suppose we can consider her an adult. That's a fee of twelve dollars."

"No problem."

As soon as got through the door, Hilary and Judy gasped in awe. They were surrounded by gigantic trees and endless fern and conifers, some in pots, some not. There was a large polygonal fountain in the middle of the room. The ceiling itself was dome shaped and made from crystalline glass. It looked to be 85-90 feet high.

"This is absolutely gorgeous," Judy said.

"You can say that again," Hilary commented.

"I've been the director of this building for several years and even I'm struck at how beautiful the collection is," Francisca said. She turned to Judy and Hilary. "So, what sections of the garden will you be visiting?"

"Oh, of course," Judy said laughing lightly. "We're going to the Rockefeller Rose Garden, the Ladies' Border, the Magnolia garden and the Lilac garden. Will we be able to take pictures?"

"Oh yes. Snap away."

"Can we pick some flowers as souvenirs?" Hilary asked.

Francisca laughed. "That's a question that we hear everytime someone visits. I'm sorry, but as you know, botanical gardens are mainly for research purposes and we can't risk a shortage of plants because of people who want to take home bouquets of roses. I know it's disappointing, but we can't allow anyone to pick the flowers."

Hilary looked disheartened for a second but smiled in understanding. "It's okay."

"The entrances to the other gardens are on all sides of the building and you'll also get to see the variety of plants we have here."

They walked through the room and looked at all the conifers trees.

"This is the Palm Gallery, the part of the Conservatory that houses all the palms and ferns," Francisca said.

"How tall do these trees usually get?" Judy asked.

"On the average, conifer trees grow 20-45 feet high though as you can see, some grow to be much higher."

"What's next after this room?" Hilary asked.

"The next room holds our Lowland Tropical Rain Forest, where we've created the best simulated environment for the plants to thrive."

Judy took out a camera and snapped two pictures: one of the ferns on the ground and one of what appeared to be the tallest palm tree. She then turned to Hilary.

"We'll get these developed once we get back to Manhattan," Judy told her.

"Alright."

The three turned left and after a short distance, Hilary and Judy stepped into the Tropical Rainforest. There was a curving road with endless plants and flowers. On both sides, one could see the bark of humongous trees. Looking around, Judy and Hilary saw that sunlight was filtering through the ceiling (or what they could see of it).

"There is an upper level to this gallery, but it's in the next room," Francisca said.

As the three walked down the winding road, there was hardly any visible part of the actual Conservatory because the plants were so numerous. When they reached the middle of the room, a strong beam of sunlight shined on the trio. Hilary looked up and saw a gigantic tree.

"Why is the light stronger here than in the rest of the room?" Hilary asked.

"Take a look in front of you and you'll find out," Judy said.

Hilary looked down and saw leaves growing from what looked to be a large piece of bark.

"That is a fallen limb from that kapok tree," Francisca explained. "We left it here so that visitors could see the actual process of plants that grow from the branches of these big trees."

"Before we move on, I'd like to take a picture of this," Judy said as she pulled out her camera. She snapped the picture of the branch and then another of the tree that the limb came from.

They continued and Judy recognized several cacao trees along the way and took a picture of one of them. At the end of the room, there was a large archway where the road sloped upward. They walked up for about a minute and when they reached the top, there was more of the same and when Judy and Hilary looked back, the view was spectacular.

"We're now in the forest canopy," Francisca said.

As they continued, Judy, Hilary and Francisca felt drops of water fall on them which Francisca explained was part of the special effects of the gallery, which was not only a refreshing coolant in the heat of the environment, but also a way for the plants to get some moisture. At the end of this room were two doors.

"Through these doors is the Aquatic Plants and Vines Gallery. And don't worry; you will be able to see the Conservatory walls and ceiling this time," Francisca said.

They walked through the right door and were greeted by a collective of vines and flowers hanging from the opposite side of the room and from their door as well. There were potted plants in a line of both sides of the room and in the center sat was a beautiful fountain with a statue in the middle of it.

"Why do they call this the Aquatic Plants and Vines Gallery? Is it because of the fountain or are these plants actually grown in aquatic environments?" Judy asked.

"They do grow in the water, and the vines you see hanging from the arches and the ceiling are found in tropical regions," Francisca told her.

"Can we take a picture of the fountain?" Hilary asked Judy.

"Why of course."

Judy went over to the other side of the fountain and saw that the statue was of four women, each one facing one of the four cardinal directions. She took out her camera and snapped the picture.

"Next, we'll be seeing the Upland Tropical Rain Forest Gallery."

They walked through one of the doors and were met with more of what they saw in the lowland rain forest as well as berries, ferns and orchids. Judy snapped a couple of pictures and they left shortly after. The next room was a major departure from the lush plants seen previously.

"This is the desert area of the Conservatory and it shows plants from both America and Africa," Francisca said.

"It certainly feels like a desert environment. Boy is it hot!" Hilary said wiping her forehead.

"I don't think I have to tell you not to touch the cacti," Francisca said.

Throughout the tour, there were mostly cacti, though occasionally, they came across some flowering plants. Once they reached the end of the room, Francisca stopped and turned to Judy and Hilary.

"Ahead is the Special Collection with rare plants that hang from containers as well as carnivorous plants, so be careful. The reason I'm telling you this is because after we see this gallery, the tour will be over. There are seasonal galleries here, but most of them are not on display right now. I will guide you to the back of the building and tell you where to find the nearest collection you're looking for."

The two nodded and stepped into the room. As described, there were several plants hanging from the ceiling by suspended wires and there were many on the ground as well. Judy took shots of the carnivorous plants and then they exited and Francisca continued to guide Judy and Hilary through the Conservatory (where some of the rooms were empty) and were led to the back of the building.

"Thank you very much Francisca for that tour," Judy said.

"Oh certainly. Now, from here the closest part of the Garden that you wish to see would be the Ladies' Border. Go east from here and you'll be there soon. Oh and here's a map." She handed it to Judy.

"Alright. Let's go Hilary." The brunette nodded and followed Judy.

* * *

Tyson was slumped in his seat staring at the chair in front of him out of pure boredom. He had read all the magazines there were and he wasn't hungry so food couldn't distract his attention either. He turned to Annabel and said, "Look out the window and tell me what you see."

She looked and then turned to Tyson. "Sky and ocean and not much else. Don't worry though; the sun should be going down soon, so we're definitely closer. Don't stress so much. Try to relax."

"I can't. There's nothing to do except sit here and I hate waiting around."

"You wouldn't be this restless unless something was bothering you, so you must be really anxious to get to New York for some reason."

"It's just…do you remember when I told you that Hilary and I argued a lot? Well, I think that I may've been the reason she left in the first place and if so, she may not forgive me for it."

"Tyson, I seriously doubt that. If she left because of how you had treated her, then I think she would've let you know upfront if there was that much contempt between the two of you. But she left without telling you or anyone else which means she didn't want her reasons known, or that she didn't know them herself. If your relationship with her was really as tumultuous as you say, I think that she would've been pushed to the point of leaving long ago."

"Maybe you're right."

"So cheer up. Negative thinking isn't good for you."

"Alright, I'll try," he said putting on a small smile.

* * *

Hilary and Judy were walking along the Ladies' Border, a long stretch of road lined with exotic flowers, ferns, shrubs, and trees. You could see the Conservatory in the distance.

"Oh this is so beautiful. I wish we could take some flowers for ourselves," Hilary said dreamily.

"I know exactly what you mean," Judy said. She pointed to a crape-myrtle sporting lavender flowers. "Look at that crape-myrtle bush. I'd love to take a big bouquet of those flowers and put them in my room."

Hilary suddenly turned to Judy and her demeanor slowly shifted to one of mischievousness. "You don't think that they would notice if just a few flowers were missing, do you?" she asked.

"Hilary, as tempting as that sounds these people did a lot of work to plant all these trees and flowers and I think they would notice if even one was missing."

Hilary pouted.

"I'll definitely take a picture of it. And tell you what, if you see something that you really want to take back to Japan, I might be willing to let you bend the rules every once in a while." Judy winked at Hilary and the brunette smiled.

"Judy, I have a question. I'm looking at the map and all the other parts of the garden that we plan on visiting are way on the other side of the complex. How will we get there?"

"It's okay. There are signs that let you know what part of the Garden you're in and there are directional posts that tell you where you're going. We saw one when we left the Conservatory."

They went through the rest of the border and turned west and eventually came upon what looked like railroad tracks. There was a small bus that seemed to be used for transportation.

"Hm, a tram stop. That must be used to transport visitors long distances. It'll be a lot better than walking," Judy said.

"It looks like there are four tram stops around the Garden," Hilary said while looking at the map.

They went up and waited for the driver to open the door. After noticing the two, he let them on. He looked to be in his early thirties.

"Hi. Where are you two lovely ladies headed?" he asked smiling.

"The Lilac Garden," Judy said.

"Alright then."

Judy and Hilary sat in the front near a window. There were a few other tourists on the trolley as well but they didn't pay attention. While riding, Hilary and Judy saw mostly forest. Once the tram stopped, the tourist departed and the two girls looked around to see if they could find a directional post.

"Up ahead. It says the garden is northwest of here," Hilary pointed out.

They walked north from their position and soon came upon a slope with lilacs on all sides. For a moment, both were speechless. They walked along and went around seeing all the blooming purple flowers with Judy taking pictures every so often.

Hilary gave Judy a pleading look and asked, "Can I take just one of them, please?"

"Well…alright, but just one and don't let anyone else see you doing it. We don't want imitators."

She went off into a clearing and after making sure that no one was around, she plucked a violet flower and put securely in her jeans pocket. The two continued to marvel at the flowers when they saw another sign which said:

Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden→ (indicating north).

"Oh I can't wait!" Hilary said.

"Hilary, are you thinking about taking some roses for yourself?" Judy asked giving Hilary a wary look.

"Maybe…" she said meekly.

Judy laughed and then whispered to Hilary, "Confidentially, so am I, but we don't want this to become a habit."

"I know that. This will be the last time, I swear," she said.

"Okay."

* * *

"Hey Tyson, what are you going to do when we get to New York? It's going to be really dark once the plane lands."

"I don't care how dark it is, I'm going to look for Hilary."

"You really wanna find her, don't you? Forgive me for asking, but do you have a crush on her? You seem to be a little too determined for this to be just friendship."

Tyson turned away and waited a moment before answering. "…I don't have a crush on her." She thought that was it, but then he turned back to her. "I'm in love with her."

* * *

Once they saw the sign that said Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, they got up to a stone balcony and like before, Hilary and Judy were speechless for a moment.

"Oh my God…" Judy said in awe.

Hilary's response was more direct. "Damn!"

The scene before them was stunning. There was an iron gate that lead into the garden and split off into two directions. Roses of all types were displayed everywhere, over the railings, hanging from the gate, and planted all over the proximity of the area, bursting with color. In the background, trees towered over the garden, completing the look of the whole area and making the landscape even more beautiful.

"I want one rose of every different color that they have here," Hilary said suddenly.

"Now wait a minute Hilary. A lone flower is one thing, but you're talking about practically taking a bouquet."

"I know, but this place has roses everywhere, and probably features the same kinds in different places. They're not going to notice if just one is missing."

"That may very well be, but you have to think about other factors. First of all, how are you going to hide several flowers at once and get them out of the building? You can't possibly carry them all in your pocket."

"Well, I thought that maybe…you could carry them in your purse?" she said in a timid voice.

"Oh no. If we're caught, I'm the one who'll pay the penalty. We could actually go to jail," Judy said.

"We won't get caught if the flowers are out of sight," Hilary countered.

"Hilary, I'm surprised at you. Criminal behavior isn't something I thought you were capable of."

"Don't say that. I already feel guilty enough. Besides, you said you wanted some flowers for yourself too."

"Well, that's true." Judy turned away in thought. Finally, she said, "Okay, here how this will work. We'll go around and look at all the different flowers so as not to attract attention to ourselves. While we're at a particular section, we'll wait until the coast is clear and then you take one flower and we move on. I'll look and take one flower for myself and once we're done, we leave and go on to the Magnolia section got it?"

"Got it," Hilary answered. "Thanks Judy."

"You can thank me when we're out of here."

Hilary and Judy went around marveling at all the different flowers and when the timing was right, Hilary would take one single flower in a place where she was sure it wouldn't be missed. This continued on until she had six roses stored away: one red, one light pink, one hot pink, one white, one yellow, and one that was lavender. Judy had picked a white flower and they left the way they had come.

Judy looked at the map and they headed east and eventually they came upon a field covered with tall trees which sported pink petals that reminded one of cherry blossom trees.

"This is magnificent," Judy exclaimed.

"Take a picture of that gigantic one in the center," Hilary said.

Judy pulled out the camera and snapped the photo. They went around and looked at all the Magnolias with Judy snapping a few more pictures and of course marveling at the beauty of it all.

"That's it, I'm planting a magnolia tree in my backyard when I get home," Hilary said.

"And I'll get one in the main office of the BBA research laboratory," Judy agreed.

Then they saw something that made them stop in their tracks. Two huge Magnolia trees were in full bloom next to each other with flowers reaching up into the heavens and petals gracing the ground between them. It looked like a walkway for Mother Nature herself.

"Oh my God, take a picture right now!" Hilary exclaimed.

"Already on it!" Judy answered as she snapped the picture of the beautiful scene.

"Oh wow! This is great. What a beautiful place. I'm so glad we came," Hilary said.

"Come on, we'll go by the Reflecting Pool and then rest at the Leon Levy Visitor Center."

* * *

Annabel was reading a Home and Garden magazine when she glanced outside the window and gasped.

"Tyson, come over and look at this!" she said excitedly.

Tyson undid his belt and looked out the window. Outside was the sun going down just outside their field of vision, but what they did say was the sky painted with shades of red, orange, and blue.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah," Tyson answered. There was sadness in his voice however, because he wished he was watching it with someone else.

"What's the matter?" she asked, noticing Tyson's sad expression.

"Nothing," he said smiling at her. He walked back to his eat and buckled himself in. _I might as well go to sleep until we get there. There's nothing better to do.

* * *

_

At the Reflecting Pool, Judy and Hilary were looking in their reflections in the water.

"Hey Judy, I've got a great idea," Hilary said.

"Alright, what is it?" she asked.

"Take just two more pictures. One of this cherry tree and one final photo of both of us with the tree in the background."

"That's a wonderful idea!"

They took the shot of the cherry tree, in full flowering bloom and then they set up the "self-portrait" shot.

"Smile!" Judy said.  
Hilary and Judy beamed and Judy snapped the picture.

"This'll go great with the solo pictures of you and me," Hilary said.

"I know. I can't wait to get these developed!"

The two were just outside the Visitor Center, so they went inside and sat down.

"This whole trip has been so refreshing. Thanks for this Judy."

"No problem Hilary. So what do you think of New York City?"

"I liked it before. I love it now!"

Judy laughed. "That's good to hear. You want some coffee before we go?"

"I normally don't drink coffee, but I suppose I'll need the extra energy for tonight."

Judy ordered two cups and after waiting for a few minutes, the coffee was at their table. Hilary added sugar and creamer to make it sweet.

"So, what do you plan on doing once we're back at the house?" Judy asked.

"Flop on the bed and get some sleep!" Hilary said.

"Amen to that!"

They finished their coffee and after double-checking their belongings, Hilary and Judy went back to through the Conservatory (taking care to avoid Francisca), and went back to the car.

"Alright Hilary, we're going back to the Rockefeller Plaza to get a bird's eye view of Manhattan and then we'll go on home."

"Sounds like a plan," Hilary said smiling.

* * *

Tyson was leaned over in his chair asleep when the captain came over the loudspeaker. "Passengers, we will be landing in Manhattan, New York in about half an hour."

Tyson woke with a start. _Half an hour? _He smiled. _I'm almost there._

Anna was still awake and glanced over at the young champion. "Well, I see you're up from your fourth nap of the day."

"You went to sleep too," he said chuckling.

"True, but I don't take that many naps in a day even when I'm on vacation! Are you excited?"

"Of course."

"Are you planning on going to sleep again?" she asked jokingly.

Tyson shook his head. _I'm not going to sleep again unless she's in my arms.

* * *

_

Hilary and Judy had just arrived back at Manhattan. It was 7:00 on the dot and the sky was just getting dark. They got to the Rockefeller Center in about fifteen minutes.

"It's going to be at least an hour before they put all the lights on, so we can just sit in the car and talk until then," Judy said.

"Alright then. You said that you've seen this view of the city at night. Just how pretty is it?"

"Let's just say that it almost compares to the beauty of the New York Botanical Garden."

"How long will we be up there?" Hilary asked.

"I'm not sure. I think it would be a waste to just stay up there for a few minutes, so we could be up there for quite a while. But don't worry, when you feel you want to go to bed, we'll go back to the house."

"Are you going to go back to the lab after we're through here?"

"I guess so. I do have my own house in the building." Both laughed at the comment.

Hilary hesitated before speaking again. "…When do you think Tyson will be here?"

Judy giggled at the question. "Knowing that boy, he'll be here before you wake up tomorrow."

"That'd be quite a surprise."

"Yes it would be, but I guess it would be a welcome surprise."

"You've got that right…"

* * *

The plane had just touched down and the stars were shining out brightly, though it was hard to see them in some places. Tyson, who had been to Manhattan more than once, knew exactly where Mr. Tate's shop was and where the BBA research laboratory was. He didn't know which one Hilary went to so he decided to try the shop first, considering there would be a lot less ground to cover. Tyson rushed over there and saw that Mr. Tate was just finishing closing up the shop.

"Uh, Mr. Tate?" he said.

Max's dad looked up and smiled when he saw Tyson. "Tyson? What a surprise! I suppose you've come looking for Hilary."

"That's right. Is she here?" he asked hopefully.

"No. She and Judy went out for the day. They didn't tell me when they'd be back, so you can wait up in Max's room."

_So she's been staying here all this time... _Tyson thought.

He followed Mr. Tate's instructions and went to his friend's room. He saw a suitcase next to the bed and assumed it was Hilary's. Tyson started to open it, but stopped short when he realized what was most likely inside.

"It would be a very embarrassing and potentially very painful situation if she saw that I rummaged through her clothes," he said to himself.

Tyson took his shoes off and stretched himself out on the bed. Staring up at the ceiling, he imagined Hilary's reaction when she came in and saw him waiting for her. Two distinct possibilities came into his head.

1.) Hilary is ecstatic when she sees him in the room, throws her arms around him and exclaims how much she loves him, apologizing for her abrupt departure (not that he cared, as it was probably his fault anyway).

Tyson chuckled. That was a rather childish ideal that he very seriously doubted would happen. However, childish though it was, it was better than the alternative which was,

2.) Hilary is still shocked at his presence, though not in a good way. She suddenly tears up and demands to know why he's there. After explaining the situation, Hilary explains that the whole reason she left Japan was to get away from him and angrily tells him to leave. She says that she'll come back when and if she believes he's ready to treat her better.

Just the thought made tears well up in his eyes, not because Hilary rejected him, but because it would mean that she actually hated him and that was something Tyson didn't think he could handle. Of course, there was a third possibility. Hilary might agree to come back to Japan and forgive him for whatever role he may've played in her decision, but say that she just wanted to be friends. Yes, she would've still rejected him, but he'd be satisfied just being in her life and knowing that she cared for him.

_I guess I'll find out how she feels when she gets here…

* * *

_

Judy looked at the clock which read 8:03. "I guess we'll go inside now," she said.

Hilary and Judy went up to the top floor and went out onto the terrace. The city of Manhattan was lit up like Vegas and it made for a beautiful scene of the night life.

"I don't know if my camera will able to capture the whole thing, but I'll try," Judy said.

She readied the camera and backed up to get a fuller view and when she was sure she could get no more in, she snapped the photo.

"That's gonna look great when it's developed," Judy said.

Hilary surveyed the city and then absent-mindedly commented, "You know, this is very pretty, but in a big city like Manhattan, you can't really see the stars."

Judy looked out at the sky and paused before answering. "That's true. Fortunately, Manhattan isn't as polluted as some other big cities like Los Angeles or Houston."

Judy walked over beside Hilary and just then, a cool gentle breeze went through the terrace and ruffled the girls' hair.

"This is so relaxing," Hilary said. "I usually go to bed early, but one late night won't disrupt my sleeping patterns."

"Speaking of going to bed early, what will you do about school once you get back to Tokyo?" Judy asked.

It was a loose connection, but Hilary ran with it. "In the note I wrote to my mom before I left, I basically told her to give an explanation for my absence at school. I'm sure she did it considering at the time, she had no idea when I was coming back, so it was probably an indefinite absentee note."

"Under what grounds?" Judy asked. "You know that you can't just write an absentee note and expect a school to accept it as legitimate without sufficient reason, especially if someone is out for a considerable amount of time."

"My best guess would be that the stated reason for my absence is severe emotional distress, and that was certainly true at the time."

"Well, that's certainly a legitimate concern, but emotional or mental problems usually won't get you out of school unless you've been officially diagnosed with a verifiable disorder by a psychologist or if it's so painfully obvious that you have a mental infirmity that the administrators deem you unfit to be in an enclosed setting with other students."

Hilary's face fell. "Oh. Well, when you put it that way, it sounds like you have to be put in a mental hospital in order to be excused from school on the basis of emotional or mental volatility."

"That's because usually, that's what has to happen. Not always, but most of the time. Now if you had said that you were contemplating suicide at the time of your departure, you would've almost certainly been excused."

Hilary let out a heavy sigh. "Oh well…I guess I'll just have to pull all-nighters for a week to catch up."

"But Hilary, if you exhaust yourself trying to catch up, you won't be in any shape to perform at your best."

"You're probably right, but I may not have a choice. And then there's the matter of my perfect attendance being shot, although that's not such a big deal."

"I'm surprised to hear you say that, because from the stories I've heard from Max, you do your best to be perfect in school and are religiously punctual."

"That's actually pretty accurate, although I'm trying to be less uptight about it so I don't end up stepping all over the other students."

"Well that's good." Judy paused, as if contemplating whether she should voice the next thought that had entered her mind. Finally, she asked, "Do you think that you've created a rift in the relationship with your mother?"

Hilary smiled and said, "No, I don't think so. I mean, she was a little angry when I was on the phone with her, but she said that all she really wanted was for me to come back home."

Judy smiled as well. "All a parent ever wants is to know that their child is safe and happy. Do you think you've damaged your relationship with your team?"

Hilary's expression darkened at the mention of the BBA Revolution and the former Bladebreakers. "I can't really say for sure. As a group, I'm sure they'll accept me back, but individually, I don't know if the boys will hold resentment for me because of my leaving and that possibility is what scares me. They're my best friends and have become like my family."

"I definitely understand. But do you remember what I told you about Tyson? The same applies to the others. I don't think that they'll ostracize you because of this."

Hilary flinched at Judy's statement. She looked at her nervously. "Did you have to use the word ostracize?"

"Oh sorry. I guess it does have a pretty negative meaning."

"That's okay. Really, I'm ready to go home. I wanna see Tyson and the others again and I miss my mom."

Judy beamed. "Well, you won't have to wait long. You'll be back in Japan by early evening tomorrow."

* * *

Tyson was sitting upright on Max's bed fiddling with Dragoon. Every so often, he would glance at the clock to see what time it was. The hands now read 10:35 and Tyson had become restless again. He had made it this far and being made to wait was frustrating. Time seemed to be against him as every minute that passed by felt like ten.

"Hilary, I need to see you again…" he said to an empty room.

He had been rehearsing what he was going to say when Hilary came back. He'd basically explain why he was there and apologize (profusely) if it turned out that his hunch was right. Afterwards, he would finally tell her what he had been hiding for so long and hope that she returned his feelings.

"If she just wants to stay friends, that's okay," He said grinning to himself. "I'll get over it…" Tyson stopped short and his smile faded slowly as if it was a mask that had just fallen away.

_If I live long enough _he mentally finished. As much as he tried to accept it, the inescapable possibility that Hilary might rebuff him hurt.

Suddenly, he heard a deep voice call his name.

_**Tyson…**_

He recognized it immediately as the voice of his bit-beast Dragoon. His was communicating with him telepathically.

_Dragoon…what is it?_

_**You must do away with this despondence.**_

_Give me one good reason why. And don't say it's affecting my blading, I already know that. _

_**The girl cares for you more than you realize.**_

_How would you know?_

_**I've picked up on some of her thoughts about you. Listen, I know you love her deeply, but you cannot allow your emotions to negatively affect you. It's not good for you or for anybody else.**_

_You wouldn't understand. You've never been in love…_

_**I understand that you're hurting yourself by thinking this way. I also know that Hilary is your friend and it would hurt her to see you in such a state.**_

_You're right…but-_

_**But nothing! Even if Hilary doesn't reciprocate your feelings, don't you think it would be better to salvage this friendship rather than to have a false love and live a lie?**_

_Yeah._

Tyson didn't think for a minute that Hilary would be so shallow or so cruel as to lie and say that she loved him just to spare his feelings. But Dragoon was right. He valued his friendship with her and he wanted to keep that if nothing else.


	13. Reunion

Here's the last chapter of the story and the chapter where Hilary and Tyson are finally brought back together. I hope you like it. Read & Review!

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Chapter 12: Reunion

Hilary and Judy pulled up to the driveway of Mr. Tate's shop.

"I'm so glad we're here," Hilary said. "That was fun and all, but I want to get to bed."

"Alright Hilary, I'll see you later," Judy said.

Hilary stepped out of the car and went inside. When she looked at the clock, she saw that it was 10:45. Mr. Tate wasn't around and only one light was on in the shop so she assumed that he had already gone to bed.

"Oh well, I'll follow suit," she said to herself.

Hilary started upstairs and noticed something peculiar. The light seemed to be on in Max's room.

"Who could that be?"

She continued up. Once at the top, Hilary turned the doorknob. When the door opened, she gasped. Tyson Granger was sitting on the bed smiling at her. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Hey Hil," he said softly

"…Tyson," was all she could get out before ran to Tyson and threw her arms around him in a fierce hug. She cried into his shirt and felt his arms wrap around her waist.

"I'm so happy you're here," she heard him say.

When her sobs quieted, Hilary looked up at the Tyson through tear-filled eyes and asked, "How long have you been here?"

"For over two hours," he answered. He took a hand and wiped her tears.

"Where are the others?"

"We decided that I should come over by myself considering the cost of tickets."

Hilary then turned away from Tyson and she didn't have to glance back to see the worried look that must've formed on his face. "I'm sorry…" she whispered.

Tyson turned her head so she would look at him. "Don't be," he said.

Hilary's expression was once again one of surprise. "You're not mad?" she asked.

The boy shook his head and then frowned.

"What's wrong?"

Tyson turned his head away this time, seeming not to want to answer. After a moment, he turned to her and asked, "Hilary, tell me the truth. Did I have anything to do with your decision? Did you leave because of me?"

Hilary was so caught off guard by the question, her mouth hung open for a few moments. Once she regained her composure, Hilary said hesitantly, "Well, in a way yes." Then she saw something that completely floored her. He began to cry. Not racking sobs like she had displayed moments ago; just tears. What he said next surprised her even more.

"What did I do? What did I do or say to hurt you so badly that you wanted to run away from me?"

Hilary gasped again. Tyson thought that he had somehow hurt her? She paused and thought about it. His assumption wasn't _totally_ unfounded. But her decision to leave was out of her own cowardice, even if Tyson was a factor.

"Tyson, you did nothing to hurt me. The truth is the whole reason I left was because I was scared. When I say that I left because of you, I meant that I left because of my feelings for you." She stopped right there, almost as if she was afraid that she had said too much.

Tyson's expression was now one of confusion. He wiped his tears away and then asked, "What do you mean your feelings for me?"

_We'll there's no holding back now _Hilary thought. "Tyson let me ask you a question. How would you describe our relationship?"

"Volatile."

"And how do you treat me nine times out of ten?"

"Like crap," he said bitterly.

"But there are times when you're very sweet and giving too. That's what drives me crazy. You act so ambivalent toward me, I have no idea how you really feel. That's why I left. I didn't know whether you liked me or hated me and I was scared to find out. I know it was a stupid thing to do, but you have to understand. You mean so much to me and I couldn't stand the possibility that I meant nothing to you. Tyson…I love you!"

Hilary was crying again. Tyson pulled her to him and hugged her until she calmed down.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "This is all my fault. I'm sorry for anything I've said or done to make you feel that way. You mean everything to me. I should've told you how I felt right from the start. I love you Hilary."

"I'm so sorry for everything I've put you and the others through. I made you all go through hell for nothing. I'm a horrible person."

"Shut up!" Tyson said firmly. His eyes softened after a moment. "You have nothing to apologize for. I deserved this for always being an asshole to you. And don't ever call yourself that again! You are one of the most loyal friends I've ever had and I don't deserve all you do for me. As for the others, they want you back just as much as I do."

"Except for Daichi, right?" she asked smirking.

Tyson chuckled at the mention of the hyperactive boy. "Well, don't worry about him. If the monkey boy gives you any trouble, I'll shut him up for you."

Hilary giggled. "That's sweet."

A comfortable silence descended upon the room. After a couple of minutes, Hilary pulled away from Tyson. A troubling thought had just entered her head.

"What's wrong?" Tyson asked.

"Tyson, you say I mean everything to you, but I know you can't really mean that. I can't ask you to put me in front of your dream," she said.

Tyson smiled. He lifted Hilary's chin so she would look at him. "Hilary, I achieved my dream three years ago. Beyblading still is and always will be a big part of my life. But you _are _my life."

"What about Dragoon?" she asked.

"He and I will always be connected. Besides, I'm confident enough in my skills that I know no one will take him unless they take me down, and you know I don't go down easily."

Reassured, Hilary hugged him again. "I love you Tyson."

"I love you too."

After a few moments, Hilary opened her eyes and noticed the clock by Max's bed. She gasped. "Tyson, it's nearly 11:30!"

Tyson looked over and his eyes widened. "Oh crap!" He looked back at Hilary and smiled nervously. "I guess I better let you go to bed."

"Yeah." When Tyson didn't move, Hilary said, "I'll need to change clothes."

"Oh yeah. I'll be right outside."

After Tyson was out the door, Hilary changed into her pajamas. Once she was done, she gave the signal for Tyson to come back in.

"Okay, do you need me to leave?" she asked.

"No. I didn't bring any night clothes," Tyson said and then laughed. "I was so focused on getting to you that I didn't think about bringing any luggage."

Hilary laughed along with him. "I'm flattered. Well, goodnight." Hilary began to walk to the bed.

"Wait Hil," he said.

She turned back to him. Tyson walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Don't I get a kiss goodnight?" he asked playfully.

"Of course," she said smiling. They came closer and closer until their lips touched. The kiss wasn't passionate and only lasted for a few seconds.

"Hey, do you think I could maybe…sleep with you?" Tyson asked.

"…Define sleep," she said cautiously.

Tyson blushed, knowing what she meant. "I mean just sleep in the same bed," he said quickly.

Hilary sighed in relief. "Oh good. I don't know Tyson. If Judy or Mr. Tate comes in and finds us like that, they might get the wrong idea."

"Come on Hil, we'll have our clothes on. How could it possibly be misconstrued?"

Hilary looked at him surprised. "Wow, I can't believe you know the word misconstrued."

"You have no idea how bored I've been since you've been gone. I read the dictionary just to past the time."

Hilary's eyes widened in astonishment. "Oh my gosh." She smiled at him and said, "Well, I guess I could let you sleep with me tonight if you really want to be around me that much."

"I never wanna leave your side. I need you," he said sincerely.

The two got into the bed and snuggled together.

"You know that we're going back to Tokyo tomorrow," Hilary said.

"Yeah. The others can't wait to see you again. And your mom is probably holding her breath waiting for you to walk through the front door."

"I know. I just want to get back home and put this whole mess behind me."

"Well, it wasn't all bad. We're together again right?"

"You're right." Hilary yawned, obviously very tired. "Goodnight Tyson."

Tyson kissed her on the cheek. "Goodnight Hilary," he said softly.

As Tyson lay beside his new girlfriend, he laughed inwardly. _I guess that ideal wasn't so farfetched after all

* * *

_

The next morning, Hilary woke to find Tyson facing her and sleeping soundly with a smile on his face. She smiled to herself and while she didn't want to get out of bed, a quick glance at the clock told her that both of them needed to get up so they wouldn't miss their plane. However, when Hilary tried to remove herself from Tyson's arms, he involuntary tightened his hold. The more she attempted to move, the stronger Tyson's grip got and the expression on his face turned to one of distress, as if he was trying to keep from losing something precious. Eventually, Hilary gave up trying to leave as it was clear that Tyson wasn't going to let her. She laughed. Even in his sleep, Tyson didn't want to let her go.

"I guess I'll just have to wake him up myself," Hilary said.

She shook him lightly, but he still didn't open his eyes. She couldn't pour water on him (nor did she want to) and yelling probably wouldn't work either, so Hilary thought of a more romantic way to wake him. She leaned in and gave him a deep kiss. She knew he was awake when she felt him kiss back, even though his eyes were still closed. When Tyson finally did open them, he grinned at Hilary.

"Morning, my love," he said.

Hilary giggled. "Do you know what you did when I woke up?" she asked him.

"No. Could you fill me in?"

"I was trying to get out of the bed so I could get dressed, but everytime I tried to move away from you, you pulled me back and held me even tighter. You would not let me get up."

"Seriously?" he said looking surprised. She nodded.

Tyson chuckled. "I guess I was afraid that you'd run off again."

"That reminds me, there's something I want to give you to make up for abandoning you like that."

"Hilary, you don't have to-"

"I know, but I want to," she said firmly. "If I don't do something to make up for my stupid actions, I'll never be able to forgive myself. Judy has it right now, so when she gets here, I'll give it to you. Speaking of, we need to get ready."

Hilary gathered the clothes she was going to wear and stepped out of the room, leaving Tyson to wait as he was already dressed except for his shoes. He didn't know why she insisted on giving him anything, as he had already forgiven her even before he'd gotten to Manhattan. But it was probably more for her piece of mind than for his sake so he wouldn't press the issue. He waited for about twenty minutes before Hilary came back in. He noticed something new about her attire. Her jeans were jewel-encrusted.

"Where did you get those?" he asked.

"Judy bought them for me yesterday. How do they look?"

"If you mean the jeans alone, they look fine. If you mean how you look in the jeans, you look great."

_Then again, I think you look great in anything _he thought.

"I guess you're already set to go, so why don't we catch up while we wait for Judy to get here?" Hilary said.

"Okay. While you were gone, we pretty much trained as usual although my performance has gone down considerably because you weren't there to push me to do my best."

"You don't need me to motivate you. Hiro and the others can do it just as well as I can."

"Wrong. Nobody else bothered to motivate me before because you were always there to nag me, so with you gone, everyone was kinda thrown for a loop. I can never understand Kenny's techno-speak, Max isn't aggressive enough to get me to do anything, Ray, Hiro and Kai are too aggressive so I end up walking away from them, and I won't even bother to listen to Daichi because he's younger than me and he's unbearably annoying."

"In your eyes, so am I and you listen to me and if you wanna talk aggressiveness, have you seen how abusive I am to Daichi?"

"You make a good point. I guess it's just because you're a girl. Though I think I can top you on the abusive part. When we were trying to find you, Daichi was being a brat saying that he didn't care whether you came home or not. I was going crazy worrying about you and he made me so mad. I snapped and started to choke Daichi, just to get him to shut up. The others had to pull me off. I wanted to kill him for insulting you and I almost did."

Hilary gasped in shock and slight horror. "Tyson…I…"

"I know it's disgusting. I was depressed and angry, and you know how I am in a crisis. My emotions tend to dictate my actions."

"Look, I admit it's shocking and a little scary, but you were defending me and I'm thankful for that. You just need to exercise better control over your emotions and so do I."

"I guess we can both work on that."

"From what my mom told me, I can assume that your academics aren't any better."

"That's the understatement of the year. I've been getting multiple F minuses in almost every class."

"Well, you can't blame me for that because you've always been lazy in school even with my nagging you."

"Actually, I had been doing fairly well up until your departure. I was making Cs and Bs and actually trying to keep my GPA up."

"What on God's green earth could've motivated you to do well in school?"

"Not what, but who. You're always trying to get me to apply myself and since school is so important to you, I wanted to show you that I was more than just a lazy, over-confident teenager who only cared about spinning tops."

"Tyson, are you telling me that you thought you weren't worthy of my attention?" Hilary asked in shock.

"I don't deserve you, we both know that."

"Oh really? You let me into your group when you could've easily refused and because of that, I have the best friends in the world. You taught me about the world of beyblading and now I have a deeper respect for you and the others. Being around the Bladebreakers changed me for the better. I went from being a snobby perfectionist to a kinder, more understanding person because of you." She paused and let Tyson take in her words then she gave him a quick kiss. Smiling, Hilary asked, "Now, you still think you don't deserve me?"

Tyson smiled hesitantly and that was enough for Hilary. "You're too good to me, you know that?"

"I know," she said and they both laughed. "Unfortunately, my grades are going to plummet because I've missed so much school."

"Wrong again, Hil. I have something to give you too."

He reached over on the other side of the bed and pulled out a small backpack. "I knew that you'd be really behind so…" He pulled a large stack of papers, all with writing on them. "I decided to get all your schoolwork done for you, with Kenny's help of course," he said smiling.

Looking at the papers, Hilary was speechless. As she sifted through the stack, she saw that almost all of the assignments were A's. Of course, tests weren't in there but that didn't matter. She could do extra credit to make it up. Hilary looked at Tyson and tears began to form in her eyes. He had sacrificed his grades just so she wouldn't fall behind.

"Tyson…I don't know what to say. Why would you-"

"Because I love you," he said, knowing what she was about to ask.

"I don't deserve this, not after what I did to all of you."

"After all you've done for the team and for me especially, you deserve all that I can give you, and a lot more."

"How did you manage to convince our teacher to let you do my schoolwork?"

"A lot of groveling, plus I had to agree to clean the whole classroom every day after school for the rest of the semester."

"I love you so much. Saying thank you isn't enough."

"You don't have to say anything. I was happy to do it for you. So, what have you been up to?"

"Helping around the shop mostly. Judy took me over to the research lab a couple times so I could see how beyblades are made and tested. She says I could actually be a scientist myself if I worked at it."

"I bet Max will be jealous because he doesn't get to spend that much time with his mom."

"He should have no reason to be jealous since he spent most of last year in Manhattan while I've only been here for two weeks."

"True."

"Hilary, it's time to go!" Judy's voice called from downstairs.

"Well, let's get going," Tyson said heading for the door.

"Just a second." Hilary put the school assignments into her suitcase and zipped it up. Then they went downstairs together.

* * *

"Well, I see that Tyson made it," Judy said once they reached the bottom.

"You were expecting me?" Tyson asked, surprised.

"Hilary told me that she suspected you'd be coming. Are we all set?"

"Before we go, can I give Tyson his gift?" Hilary asked.

"Certainly. It's in the trunk so you can give it to him once we're outside. Oh and Hilary, I didn't get a chance to get the photos from yesterday developed so I'll send them to you by e-mail. Is that alright?"

"Sure, that's fine."

"Alright then, we need to go so you kids can catch your flight."

The three went to the car and Judy opened the trunk. Hilary went over and pulled out a large grey box. Once she set it on the ground, she took out a small book as well. She motioned for Tyson to come over and then opened the box. A case that read Complete Beyblade Kit was inside. Tyson took out the case and folded it out, revealing all the parts for every Beyblade type there was.

Tyson grinned from ear to ear. "Wow! You got me a Beyblade part assortment? Where did you get this?"

"It was on sale at Super Wal-Mart. It costs nearly $300 but that's chump change for my salary," Judy said.

"And we got this to go along with it," Hilary said handing him the book. "It's a guide that shows you dozens of different techniques. There's different kinds of launches, type-specific attacks, how to combine different attributes to maximize a blade's effectiveness and even a section devoted to Bit-Beasts and elemental attacks."

"Thanks, both of you. Hilary, you didn't need to get me anything."

"I already told you, I wanted to do this."

Judy put the kit and book back in the trunk. "Okay, you can marvel over it once you're back in Tokyo. Now come on, we don't want to be late."

"Just one more thing," Tyson said. He smiled and then kissed Hilary. At first it was gentle, but Tyson soon deepened it and then surprised both Hilary and Judy when he asked for entrance into his girlfriend's mouth. Hilary hesitated for a second, but ultimately granted it to him. They played around for a while, exploring each other's mouths. Judy's jaw dropped at the sight.

When they finally pulled apart for air, Tyson grinned at Judy and said, "Okay, now I'm ready."


	14. Epilogue

Yes, I actually wrote an epilogue to this too. I hope you like it. Finally, this story is uploaded and finished!

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Epilogue

It had been almost a year since Hilary's return and Tyson & Hilary's becoming a couple. On the day she had come back, everyone was waiting for the both of them: The BBA Revolution, Max, Ray, Kai, Hilary's mother, Tyson's grandfather, even his dad. The celebration was later that day.

Now, Tyson & Hilary were at Tyson's dojo and in a scene of déjà vu, Hilary found herself watching Tyson battle, only this time, he was up against Daichi instead of Max and she was on the dojo steps rather than under a tree.

"So Tyson, I see that you're back on form now that your girlfriend is with you," Daichi teased.

"Well, she is my cheerleader, so her support helps me perform at my best," he said looking over at her and smiling. Hilary smiled back at him.

"I still don't know what you see in her," he said.

Still smiling, Tyson told his teammate, "I don't expect you to understand. You're too young."

As they continued to battle it out, Tyson thought about Daichi's query.

_What do I see in her? I see love_. _I see someone who will always be there when I need it most. I see the person with whom I want to spend the rest of my life. I see…my everything._

With Tyson's inspiration back, he easily won the battle.

"Aw man! Now I really regret that you came back!" Daichi said to Hilary.

"Well, sorry Daichi, but I'm here," she said smirking.

_And hopefully, she's here to stay _Tyson thought.

He went over to Hilary and sat down beside her. "I know I've said this ad-nauseum already, but I'm so glad you're back with the team." he said.

"Well, I'm very glad to be back." Hilary replied.

"That's good to hear." After a moment, Tyson turned to her and said, "Hil, promise me something."

"What is it?"

He took her hands in his own and looked straight into her eyes. "Please, never leave me again."

"Tyson Granger, I will always be by your side," she replied, beaming

Tyson grinned and then moved to pull Hilary to him. Stroking her hair, he said, "I really love you, you know."

Hilary laid her head on his chest. "I love you too," she said softly.

"Aw, that's so cute!" Max said observing the scene from inside.

Daichi gagged. "I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"You'll experience it yourself one day Daichi," Hiro said as he walked over to the bey-dish.

"No way! I never wanna get a girlfriend!"

"Sorry little guy, but you can't choose who you fall in love with and I think my little brother knows that better than anyone."

Speaking of Tyson & Hilary, they hadn't moved from the dojo steps nor had they moved from their current position.

"You know, our anniversary is coming up and there's something very special I have planned for you," Tyson said.

"Oh? Can you give me a hint as to what it might be?" Hilary asked playfully.

"You don't wanna spoil the surprise do you?"

"I guess not."

_Let's just say it's something that will make our relationship permanent. _

"Well, it sounds wonderful," Hilary said. "Can't wait!"

He kissed her tenderly. "Neither can I Hil…" he whispered, smiling.


End file.
